The Silver Age
by Firefly-shy
Summary: Formerly "The Golden Age" - retitled and reworked. Description: This story is set in the Silver Millennium kingdom. It deals with why the Shitennou chose to join Beryl and why Beryl became evil, though it includes all characters in the fall of the Silver Millennium. Warning: Character death. S/E, S/S, H/M, also featuring Pluto & Hotaru. Still needs some edits and proofing.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

**The Golden Age  
**

by Firefly-Shy

"We were dreaming of this planet. Longing for it. Looking over it." - Princess Serenity

* * *

The queen, with a loving hand, calmly stroked the fair head of her weeping child. The darkness of the princess's bedchamber was broken by the soft azure beams of the reflective Earth that swirled so silently in the deepness of space - just outside the princess's window.

"What is it this time, sweetheart?" she murmured.

The little girl pulled her face away to look up into her mother's ageless, crystal blue eyes.

"I had another dream," she sniffed, "I dreamed that the darkness came and tried to eat me and all the others. And - I couldn't find you anywhere. I felt so alone."

"Remember what I said?" the Queen asked, softly.

"About the light?" Selenity replied in a shaky voice.

"Everyone has a light inside them," the Queen and her daughter quoted in unison.

"And, every tear, every fear, only encourages the darkness to grow." Her mother finished. Selenity nodded in agreement.

Queen Selenity tucked her child more securely into her arms and rocked her for a few moments, allowing Selenity to have her cry.

This was the seventh week that the child had woken with a nightmare of darkness.

The Queen had endured similar nightmares for some time - her visions of the an approaching shadow had been poured over carefully in the light of day. She had shared these visions with colleagues, the dark eyed priest of Mars had illuminated them as best he could - but the dreams remained insubstantially ambiguous.

Tonight she prepared to go to the forbidden gate, to seek some answers. But first -

"Let me tell you a story, alright?" she asked her daughter who was now quiet against her shoulder. The little head nodded, sighing contentedly as her mother stroked her back.

"Once, a very long time ago, there was a princess who ruled over a wonderful kingdom," her mother began, "And all the people loved her."

"She was very beautiful?" Selenity put in.

Her mother smiled, "Indeed, and she never grew a day older. She was immortal."

"Like us," Selenity whispered.

"Yes," her mother confirmed, smiling with her wistful eyes, "Just like us. But in other lands the people were mortal, and they grew old and changed like the seasons do on Earth, like butterflies."

"Mortal," her daughter repeated to herself, already being lulled by the dulcet tones of her mother's voice.

"While walking by the sea one day, the princess looked down from her kingdom and saw a handsome young man walking by the sea of his world. She was so startled and entranced by his beautiful form and kind face that she wrapped her cloak around her and flew down to him. Of course, she startled him quite a bit," the Queen added, with a wry grin.

"But by and by they talked and she learned he was a prince. She continued to visit him and soon they fell in love - and when they told each other, their joy was very great. But their happiness was short lived."

"What happened?" Selenity asked, her tired little voice almost inaudible.

Her mother's face grew sad.

"The prince and the princess lived many happy years together, but eventually the prince grew old. And though the princess still loved him very much, he was ashamed of his mortality and forbade her to visit him anymore. He decreed that no one from their worlds was allowed any kind of contact from that day on - because he knew the sadness he had inflicted on the princess and did not wish anyone else to suffer from it."

"And one day, the old prince died and the princess became Queen of her world and mourned his loss heavily. But because she was immortal she could not follow him."

"So sad..." Selenity murmured, and her mother gently put her back into her bed and pulled the warm sheets close around her. Then she knelt beside the bed.

"It's true that it is sad," she whispered, smoothing the curls from her daughter's face, "but before the old prince died, the Queen had given birth to a beautiful girl and her child brought her a great deal of comfort and love, so that in time she did not feel lonely or pained at all."

The queen stooped to lay a light kiss on the child's cheek. She paused for a moment to listen to her daughter's deep, steady breaths and watched the little fists clutch and relax against her pillows. Then she stood and wrapped her cloak around her, vanishing into the darkness of the room.

* * *

"Who dares to approach the forbidden gate?" A deep, melodious voice called.

"It is me, Pluto. Queen Selenity, bearer of the Imperium Crystal."

In the dark fabric of space and a place between space a shadowed figure grew pronounced and with a flash of light the Queen was able to see the mysterious, fabled Guardian of the Underworld standing before her - her orb in her hand.

"My Queen," Pluto spoke, her eyes heavy with solitude and her voice husky as though she hadn't used it in a hundred years.

"I've come with a question," the Queen said, lightly, "I was hoping you could help me."

Pluto's face didn't reveal any particular emotions - surprise or suspicion seemed equally absent - she merely inclined her head.

"If I can help you, my Queen, I certainly will."

"Thank you, my friend." The queen said.

It was hard to tell who was older - both the Guardian and the Queen looked to be similar ages, quite youthful still and beautiful. But where the Queen was pale, and delicate as a beam of moonlight, Pluto was dusky as night. The Queen had lived for so long that she no longer remembered the names of all the guardians and Senshi she had met and known - most of them died so quickly, compared to her endless life span their lives were like an instant. But when she looked into the eyes of the only other immortal who was not born on the Moon, she felt a vague sense of understanding. They both knew what loneliness was.

"What is your question?" Pluto asked, quietly, "I heard you telling the princess a story just now. I like to listen to them too."

The Queen looked a bit surprised at this admission.

"I didn't know you listened to us, Pluto," she said, "I hadn't realized."

Pluto waved away her thoughts with a graceful hand.

"Sometimes," she said, her garnet eyes resting on some unseen world beyond the Queen's vision, "I like to listen to the outside worlds - your's especially. I like the young princess very much."

"Do you ever wish you could leave, Pluto?" The Queen asked, not knowing what she said. Where had the question come from?

Pluto gazed at her with an impenetrable expression.

"Sometimes," she murmured, "I...speculate...about the things I haven't experienced...but such speculation is -"

She looked with quick and sudden meaning at the Queen.

"Useless."

Queen Selenity felt an ache tug in her heart.

"It's true," she said, in a subdued tone, "Some things are useless to speculate, and can only bring pain."

"What is it that you wanted to know?"

The Queen took a deep breath and pulled her thoughts away from bitter-sweet memories.

"I have had a dream now, for quite a long time, about a darkness - a shadow - that lurks in men's hearts and minds and tries to devour the world. What does it mean?"

She watched in silence as the Time Guardian seemed to ponder her words carefully, sifting through them like colored glass marbles in her mind.

"I am not sure," she spoke at last, and her eyes were darker than before.

"But I think that there is a battle coming - something that will threaten the thousand years of peace."

"Death must always follow life - rebirth must follow death." The Queen murmured under her breath.

Pluto nodded.

"Have the princess's guardians been chosen?" the time guardian asked, almost idly.

"Not yet," the Queen answered, promptly, glad to be back to easier subjects, "But the scheduled time for that is not near. Selenity is still only a child - but when she grows a bit more we shall certainly set about to finding the new Senshi."

Pluto nodded again, still pursuing her own thoughts that wove around her head like cloudy dreams.

"I think that the time is changing," she said, vaguely, "There will be things unheard of before, but they must be allowed to happen. Change is necessary."

The Queen frowned at her words but committed the warning to heart.

"I will not stand in the way of change, but," she faltered, "I hope that no harm will come to Selenity or my people as a result of these changes."

"What will be will be," Pluto replied.

The answer weighed heavily in the Queen's heart. It seemed to her, that, no matter how hard she wished for happiness for those around her, fate seemed determined to upset her wishes. It was hard to go against fate - almost as hard as going against nature - an impossible task.

She thanked Pluto and turned to go, to leave the in-between world of gates and to leave the gate keeper alone once more in her eternal solitude.

"My, Queen."

Selenity turned, a bit surprised, to find Pluto watching her with an odd, wistful smile.

"Follow your path without fear," she said, and her voice was the voice of a young woman - uncertain, but brave. Her words echoed in the Queen's ears, and she felt as though a small hot light began to glow within her - very small, but very warm. She saw the light reflected in the other woman's eyes and realized it was hope.

Queen Selenity smiled.

"Thank you, Pluto." She whispered and watched the other girl's eyes steadily fixed on her face as she wrapped her cloak around her and disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Golden Age**

Chapter Two

"Anything is possible, if you try really hard." - Ami Mizuno

* * *

"My only daughter..."

The Queen of Mercury, her short, dark hair and usually calm blue eyes dark with grief and pain, stared unblinkingly at the child before her.

"As you see, your majesty."

Her gaze flickered to the tall man, once an attractive scientist - an artist really - now a rather grizzled, desperate looking man. Time had not been kind to the head of Mercury's bio-technological department.

There had been a time when she and this man had been...but that time was long gone.

Her eyes returned to the vision in front of her and she flinched in pain.

Standing before her was the image of her daughter, princess Hermia - a delicate, quiet eyed child, with pale skin and a sweet little mouth. Those eyes were alight with life - such a stark contrast to what she remembered only months ago.

A month ago, her only child had died.

It had been a fever, something she'd caught on her return journey from the Moon Kingdom where she'd been sent to live with the princess, as custom dictated, for exactly two years. The fever had come on suddenly - the Queen, an expert in the holistic field herself, had done everything in her power - exhuasted every resource, every new advancement in technology - she had nearly died herself in working non stop to cure the disease. All to no avail. A month ago to the date the princess of Mercury had died in her mother's arms.

"How is it possible?" The queen murmured, "I thought you hadn't tested the prototypes since the last malfunction with the domestic android."

"That's true, your Majesty," the scientist said, resting a hand on the child's thin shoulder. The Queen noted that the child didn't move or acknowledge his contact in anyway.

"But the truth is that we've made some startling new break throughs in the past weeks...I thought -" he stopped, clearing his throat and adjusting his glasses uncertainly, "I thought this would please you."

"Please me?" she repeated, her voice distant and cold.

She rose in one fluid motion from her throne and crossed to the man and the child. The scientist regarded her with wariness, taking an involuntary step away from her dark glance but instead of rebuking him she knelt in front of the child.

"What is your name?" she asked it.

In her daughter's voice the child replied, "I do not have a name, your majesty."

The Queen caught her breath and put a hand to her mouth, but soon she took it away, composed. She stood.

"You have created an android in my own child's likeness," she said, "And you have done it without my knowledge or consent. I order you to -"

She stopped. She couldn't demand for the android to be destroyed - though that was her first instinct. She looked down at it and it looked back with its calm, serious gaze.

"I order you to take it away and keep it locked away and do not - do not dare to go behind my back again."

"But your majesty, if I might just explain -"

She whirled on him, her infamous calm unsettled at last.

"How dare you?!" she cried in fury, "How dare you make this - this - thing look like my child!?"

She struggled to control her emotions to no avail. But the scientist didn't cower, instead he knelt in front of her.

"I couldn't bare to see you in so much pain," he whispered, and she turned to stare at him, amazed.

"You wouldn't talk, or eat - you were starving because of how much you miss her..." he said, and his voice shook with emotion, "I miss her too."

"That doesn't excuse -" she began.

"No," he agreed, daring to face her eyes, "But this is the only way I can help you. It's the only thing I know how to do. I can't give her back to you - but I thought - perhaps..."

He stopped and she put her hands to her eyes to block out the tumult of emotions. When she finally took her hands away the android child that was her daughter's twin was regarding her with something that resembled concern.

"Does she...can she feel?"

She felt intrigue in spite of herself. The scientist rose slowly.

"I don't know," he admitted, "all her predecessors were made specifically for domestic work and limited human interaction. I'm afraid she's different from anything we've ever attempted before. She can simulate emotion - and she can learn."

"She can learn?" The Queen knelt before the child once more.

"Yes, she processes information at the speed of any of our super computers - but she is also constructed to learn to react to human emotions - to emulate them when necessary, and to react appropriately when they are expressed."

The Queen stretched out a tentative hand to the face that was so like her daughter's, but hesitated to touch the skin.

"May I?" she asked.

The child nodded.

The Queen put her hand to the child's face. She exhaled slowly. Like most Mercurian androids, this one had the same skin grafts that were made to resemble human skin almost exactly - the only exception was that the android's skin could not be torn easily, nor could it be burned or frozen. When she touched the child's ears the android wriggled. The Queen quickly pulled her hand away.

"Did I alarm you?" she asked it.

"No," the child replied, "You tickled me."

The scientist found himself smiling, ever so slightly.

"There are many things," he explained to the shocked Queen of Mercury, "That we haven't quite figured out yet. Most importantly about life - what makes us alive? Is it our bodies, our minds? Our souls? Where is the soul located? What makes her," he motioned to the child who was following the Queen's expressions with an intense concentration, "What makes her any different from us? She has a mind, she has a fully functioning body..."

"But does she have a soul?" The Queen asked. The child held her gaze, questioningly.

"Please," she said, softly, "What is a soul?"

The queen searched the child's face and her own heart for several moments.

"I'm not sure." She replied at last.

It seemed, in that strange moment, that her heart made a decision that she would only come to understand many years later.

"I would like her to remain with me," she said.

"That is," she added, with a look at the child, "If you want to."

"I want to stay with you," the child replied.

The Queen felt something loosen in her heart - something let go and flew away. She reached down to take the child's hand.

"Say nothing of this for now," she informed the scientist, firmly, "I don't want anyone to know. We have only just ended the family's private mourning, the public announcements and ceremony for the princess's - for Hermia's passing have yet to be made."

The scientist nodded in understanding of what the Queen was really asking.

"No one knows about this experiment besides myself and my two assistants."

"Very good."

"Then for now, we will continue your experiment."

She dismissed the scientist who bowed and walked quickly from the room. Left alone with the little child that was not human or machine, she felt that oppressive gloom of the past weeks lessening - if only slightly.

"Let's see," she said to the child, beckoning her to approach her. The child came forward quietly and stood beside the Queen's knees as she sat on her throne.

"You must have a name, little one," the Queen murmured, and reached to smooth the blue hair from the fair forehead. Was it her imagination that the child-machine leaned into her hand, if ever so slightly?

"I shall call you Mercury," the Queen said.

"Mercury," the child repeated. She looked up at the Queen and smiled.

* * *

"Io!"

A young princess, about seven years of age but much taller than a normal seven-year old, stopped on the threshold of her little sister's room.

"There you are," Princess Jupiter panted, "I've been looking for you everywhere."

The red-headed, bright eyed younger princess squealed upon discovery and tried to hide in the mound of stuffed play toys on her pink bed.

"I don't want to go!" she screamed, "I want to stay here and make cookies with you!"

Jupiter sighed and dug a hand into the pillows. Finally she found the little arm that thrashed to escape her and hauled her little sister out of the pillows.

"Io, you can come and make cookies with me as soon as mother has finished making your dress, but not a moment sooner."

Jupiter dragged her sister out of the room and through the hallways to plop her down in front of her mother - the Queen of Jupiter - who was busy making stitches in her daughter's dresses. They would be bridesmaids at her cousin's wedding in a month, and the Queen would not allow anyone but herself to alter the dresses.

"Here she is, mother," Jupiter announced, gently pushing her sister toward the chair. She was surprised when the younger girl flew through the room to land in her mother's lap.

"Really, Jupiter, " her mother cautioned, "you ought to be more careful. You didn't have to push your sister so hard."

"I suppose I don't know my own strength," Jupiter replied, "I'm sorry, mother."

"It's alright, you may go back to making your cookies now."

This sent a relieved Jupiter sprinting back to her private kitchen even as her younger sister began to wail about injustice.

It was nice to be home.

Two months ago she had finished a two year long stay on the Moon during which time she'd spent only a few moments with the princess and the rest with the other planetary princesses - whom she couldn't stand for the most part. The moon princess had seemed nice enough, though a bit of a crybaby. They'd all taken turns scaring her with stories of dreaded shadow monsters that leaped out of mirrors to gobble up princesses who cried too much.

But the other princesses had been insufferable. The Princess Mars - Jupiter remembered with something akin to loathing. The girl was proud and stuck up, and extremely weird. Jupiter had often found her muttering to herself or the pet crows she kept in her room - and she acted as though she was better than the rest of them - just because she was the oldest.

Princess Venus hadn't been much better. She wasn't stuck-up or a prude, but she certainly was bossy. Every game they'd wanted to play, she had to be the leader. It had been she who had gotten them into trouble more often than not with her cocky, half-baked ideas, and it was she who always managed to get out of it and leave the others with the blame. She was also ridiculously air-headed at times and interested in boys, of all things.

Disgusting, Jupiter thought.

And then there was the sickly and prudish Mercurian princess. She had mostly kept to herself, and had made it rather clear that she didn't like the others. Jupiter didn't think that Princess Hermia was proud or vain, but she suspected the girl was weak minded and easily led. She had been timid and non-threatening, but very wishy-washy. Jupiter had tried to defend her from the others, but after a few days of this Princess Hermia had informed her that it wasn't necessary. The child was so quiet and so wraith like that Jupiter wondered at times if she was nothing more than a ghost.

Jupiter sighed as she pounded her cookie dough into smooth lumps. At least it would be another seven years before she had to go back to the Moon Kingdom, and maybe the others would have improved significantly by then.

She could hope, at least.

* * *

The Priest of Mars slapped his granddaughter's wrist with the slim bamboo rod for the fifth time that day.

"You must keep your hands held gracefully, slightly curved, - this is the only way to carry the flame and tongs."

Princess Mars said nothing, but set her painfully straight back even straighter and took a better grip on the tongs.

She wanted to please her grandfather. The Princess of Mars had to be a princess and a priestess - because the blood of Mars combined royalty with daimonic blood - with the blood of the demi-gods. This blood flowed in her veins and manifested itself in her various abilities - her sixth sense, her ability to banish lesser demons and evil spirits, her ability to sense auras and even predict the future.

These auspicious gifts were her legacy and her destiny. And a pain in the ass at the moment.

"Concentrate, otherwise how can you hope to become the Queen you must someday?"

Princess Mars gritted her teeth silently and focused on her projected goal. Passing the sacred fire by tongs from the wood to the ceremonial pyre. She calmed her rebellious emotions and tried again.

* * *

"How do you like this gown?"

The youthful Queen of Venus laughed as she spun for her daughter's amusement.

"It's lovely, mother," her daughter replied, laughing along with her.

"I thought so too, it's sure to catch the eye of the King, dont' you think?"

Venus suppressed a sigh. In her heart she knew her mother's light banter and flirtatious ways hid a sad woman who was in love with a husband who didn't love her back. Venus had watched her mother's endless quest for youth, beauty, allure - anything that might get her father's attention, but all her efforts only seemed to push him farther away. When she dressed to impress him he complained of her vanity - when she planned romantic evenings for him he complained of the cost. He was convinced that the Queen was a vain, silly woman - and Venus had to admit that even she felt her mother's actions were sometimes over the top.

But Venus also knew that her mother understood what it meant to love other people. And her father did not.

"I'm sure father will be very pleased, " she lied.

Her mother's face grew sad for a moment but soon the light look flashed again.

_When I am Queen_, _the man I marry will have to love me._

_But then, _Venus reflected, as she watched her mother preening, _It's better to be alone than unloved._

She had inherited her mother's beauty, as well as her cheerful personality - but she also had her father's determination and almost natural ability to lead. The two sides of her personality, similar to the two people so prominent in her life - sometimes seemed to be at constant odds with one another.

She sighed.

But it wouldn't be long before she could enter society and then - finally - she could find other people more her style. Not like the stuffy princess Mars, the outlandish princess Jupiter or the wallflower Hermia. The little moon princess showed some promise; she and Venus had gotten along relatively easily. But even the princess might be a bit boring after a while.

Venus knew excitement lay outside the world of childhood. If only she could unlock the gates of time and leap through to her future self. That was where life really waited.

* * *

**A.N. **I told you it might be a bit weird. The idea to make Ami an android actually came from something I read about Takeuchi's original ideas for the series. She had thought at one time to make Ami a robot - the idea has stuck with me, and I thought it might be an interesting take on the story as well as some of Ami's personality quirks. As for Rei's daimonic heritage - this is something I got from a quote of Takeuchi's in which she says something like Rei has the ability to use 'black magic' or has power over it. I thought it might be fun to take it in this direction. Anyway, thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"I promise. We will always be together." - Mamoru Chiba

* * *

A dark haired boy of eleven years paced the floor of the observatory while a boy one year older watched him warily.

"You're going to wear a hole in that carpet, sire."

The boy halted and threw a dark glance in the direction of his supervisor.

"I told you I don't need a nursery maid, Nephrite," the boy commented, "You can go find out what they're up to."

"I would," Nephrite agreed, pushing his hair out of his face, "But I promised Kunzite I'd stay in the room with you. And, frankly, I'm more afraid of his displeasure than I am of your temper."

"Thanks."

Endymion sat on the window ledge and looked out through the telescope into the bright afternoon sky.

"Those usually work better at night, sire."

"I know," Endymion snapped, frustratedly shoving the lens away from his eye.

"I just hate being couped up in here with nothing to do."

"Don't look at me," Nephrite said with a shrug, and continued leaning casually against the door.

"It wasn't my idea to declare a state of emergency today. And, " he added, "I can't help it that we've been in a drought for the last five years and the storm of last night created a forest fire."

"Well," Endymion huffed, "You could at least think of something fun to do while we wait for Kunzite to come back."

The two looked at each other and then, as one, looked at the still figure sitting quietly in the corner with his head buried in a book.

"Zoi, what are you reading?" Nephrite called.

Zoisite didn't look up so Endymion and Nephrite crept closer to the younger boy. When Nephrite was standing directly over him he clapped both hands as loud as he could right over the youngest boy's head.

Zoisite yelped and threw the book into the air. Nephrite collapsed into laughter, and Endymion smiled.

"What did you do that for!?" the younger boy demanded, scrambling to retrieve his book. Nephrite swiped it away from him and held it high over his head, laughing as the shorter boy jumped to get it.

"Give it back!"

"Get it yourself."

"Come on, Neph," Endymion spoke, "give it back to him. Look, he's getting out of breath. If you aren't careful he'll-"

The younger boy crashed to the floor, coughing hard. As Endymion and Nephrite watched in alarm, Zoisite began to draw great heaving breaths, clutching his chest. He slithered to the ground, curling up on his side.

"Now you've done it," Endymion muttered, kneeling beside Zoisite and rubbing his back soothingly as the little boy wheezed.

"This is ridiculous," Nephrite snapped, "How can he ever be a Shitennou when he can't even breath properly?"

"Shut up!" Endymion grumbled, "You aren't helping."

He knew that Nephrite was genuinely worried and felt truly guilty for triggering Zoisite's asthma attack, otherwise he wouldn't have resorted to making the nasty comment in the first place. The guiltier he felt, the meaner Nephrite usually became - Endymion just wished he would make himself useful.

"Don't stand there like a rock, go get help!"

Nephrite glowered down at the little boy in Endymion's arms and strode swiftly out of the room. Within ten seconds of his departure the door to the chamber burst open and a tall, lanky but muscular seventeen year old with white hair entered.

Without speaking, Endymion moved away from Zoisite and allowed Kunzite to bend over the boy. Kunzite was the oldest of all the Shitennou, older even than the crown prince, and, though they would never admit it, the other boys looked up to him immensely. Now that he was here, both Endymion and Nephrite (who had followed Kunzite into the room) felt very much relieved.

Kunzite, his expression barely changing, scooped up Zoisite and carried him toward the door, all the while patting his back gently as the boy continued to gasp.

"Nephrite, stay here with Endymion. And don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

Nephrite scowled and colored slightly, and Endymion merely sighed.

"But -"

"No buts, sire," Kunzite cut in, facing them both.

"We will talk about this when I get back, Nephrite."

Nephrite nodded and turned even redder.

The door slammed as Kunzite walked briskly toward the infirmary with a hacking and wheezing Zoisite staring balefully at the two miscreants over his rescuer's shoulder.

Endymion and Nephrite shared a rueful glance.

"He's going to kill us when he gets back."

"I know."

They sat glumly on the floor of the room and waited for their coming punishment.

* * *

"Discipline." Kunzite said, heavily.

He faced four younger boys - one twelve year old with ruddy brown hair and eyes such a dark purple-blue they were nearly brown; two eleven year olds, one dark haired and the other light, and a very small eight year-old who was showing signs of fatigue in the midday heat.

He sighed. Over the years he knew they would grow into accomplished warriors, but looking at them now it seemed the task he'd been set by the King of Earth was impossible.

Nephrite and Endymion were strong for their ages, though Endymion had more discipline than his friend. Nephrite was too impulsive, and often gave in to his all too irascible temper.

Jadeite, smaller than the other two, was not quite as physically strong, but he had an almost preternatural gift for grasping battle strategies and memorizing combat forms. He was also the strongest academically - Kunzite never had to force him to study like he did with Nephrite and even occasionally with Endymion. Jadeite was also more than capable of standing up for himself against the other two - he could always outsmart them.

And then there was the youngest, Zoisite. The King had chosen the four guardians from the four royal families closest in relation to the throne, and Zoisite was the eldest son of the King's first cousin. Therefore it was tradition for him to be chosen as a guardian, and as a representation of the Shitennou. But the boy was weak in body, suffered from asthma and was usually slightly anemic as well. However, Kunzite admitted, despite his delicacy and tendency to daydream, Zoisite was possibly the most intelligent of the boys - his scores, when he remembered to do his work, were simply astounding. And Kunzite had already discovered that the boy had a amazing affinity for machines and electronics.

Still, he seemed better suited to a laboratory or a library than a battle field.

"Today we are going to review the forms of combat outlined in the 'Study of War' - in particular sword forms."

He heard the mumbled groans and frowned.

"Nephrite, take this sword."

He handed the heavy blade to Nephrite who grasped it steadily.

"Swing in an upward arc, slowly, until you can feel the balance and it becomes a part of your arm."

Nephrite swung a bit awkwardly, experimentally. Kunzite barely kept from wincing as the younger boy slipped and grated his commander's sword against the ground.

He tried to remain patient. Today was the first day they were to try weapons - up until now he had taught them only hand-to-hand combat, which they were all quite proficient at - even Zoisite.

"Hold it more like this," Kunzite interrupted and took the sword to demonstrate. Nephrite took the sword back and copied him.

"Now you try."

Kunzite indicated that Nephrite pass the sword to Endymion. The young boy held it delicately at first, but after a few experimental swings he managed to hold it perfectly.

"Very good, sire," Kunzite commented, pleased. Endymion smiled and handed the sword to Jadeite.

Kunzite caught the slight dip as Jadeite struggled to conceal how heavily the sword weighed his hand compared to the other boys. He managed to hold it right after a few more tries than Endymion.

"Very good."

Jadeite nodded his head, and shared a glance with Endymion. The prince gave him a small smile of encouragement.

Jadeite passed the sword to Zoisite who promptly dropped it onto the ground.

Kunzite ignored the snickers from the other boys as he knelt beside Zoisite, whose face was very red.

"Is it the weight?" he asked, quietly.

The little boy nodded, ashamed.

Kunzite took hold of Zoisite's slender wrist and examined the thin, delicate bone structure and the wiry tendons. The boy would never be able to defend himself well with a heavy, glaive-like weapon like his own sword.

He straightened, picking up the sword easily and gracefully replacing it in the scabbard at his side. He turned on his heel and strode off through the practice yard to the building beyond.

All the other boys turned to look at Zoisite who scowled and blushed.

"Now you've made him mad," Nephrite stated pessimistically.

"I can't help it!" Zoisite declared a bit desperately.

"You just need to work on your strength," Endymion suggested, "You'll get it eventually."

"No, he won't," Jadeite said, calmly, "He's too small to fight well with a sword. Kunzite knows that."

"I can fight," Zoisite said, but his tone was rather watery.

"Don't cry," Jadeite warned him, not unkindly, "It'll only make you embarrassed later."

They all stood straight and were silent as Kunzite returned, carrying a cloth.

They watched curiously as he approached Zoisite again and unwrapped the parcel. On the cloth lay two brightly shining silver daggers, one of which he took while laying the other on the ground. He hefted it experimentally and the boys noted how it flashed in the sunlight - whirling in his hands like a beam of light.

He held it out, hilt first, to Zoisite who picked it up gingerly.

"Try this and see if it feels better," he told the little boy.

Zoisite balanced the dagger in his hand and swung it around carefully. Finally he looked back at his teacher and smiled. Kunzite's eyes crinkled at the corners.

"These aren't as powerful a weapon as a sword," he informed them all, "but they are a great deal faster and also easier to use at a distance if necessary. The smaller you are, the faster you will be and thus the more efficient and deadly."

Zoisite nodded, his eyes round. The other boys looked slightly jealous. But only slightly.

"Now," Kunzite rose, "Let's get back to training."

The King wanted them in readiness for the future. There were rumors about the distant kingdoms on other worlds. Rumors about aliens with unnatural lifespans and demonic powers. Rumors about machines that looked like humans, and people who could control the very weather - even rumors that there was a band of supernatural soldiers who served the mystical, legendary monarchs on other planets. Dangerous rumors. And they made the king of Earth very anxious.

Kunzite was to train these four rag-tag children to be the best warriors Earth had seen - they must become men who would be able to lead armies, charges, raids - to make decisions that would affect the entire world. It was heavy task indeed.

And for a teenager who had never had the chance to figure out what he wanted to be - it was a task not entirely to his liking.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Golden Age  
**

Chapter Four

"You're only nice when Luna is around. Really!" -Artemis

* * *

"You summoned me, Amphitrite? Chronos?"

Darkness reigned around them in the ancient and deserted throne room of Neptune.

Queen Selenity stood calmly, her pale wings giving off an eerie iridescent glow in the gloom. The Neptunian Queen stood with her cloak gather around her and a young girl, about nine years old, the spitting image of her beautiful mother, half-hidden in her mother's cloak.

"Selenity, we have some surprising news which we felt urgent enough to call you here."

The Queen of Neptune's tone sent shivers of dread down Selenity's spine, but she steeled herself to hear it out. Turning to the fair haired King of Uranus she nodded her readiness to listen to their tale.

The Queen of Neptune gestured to her daughter and the child detached herself from her mother's gown.

"Go and play with Princess Uranus," her mother commanded softly. The girl at once obeyed, though Selenity thought she looked a bit displeased with the idea.

For an idle moment Selenity watched the turquoise haired girl silently approach the other girl, taller than she and fair like her father. The Princess of Uranus had short hair and a short dress that revealed most of her long legs - which aided her in running with more speed and greater agility than princess Neptune could manage in her more proper skirts. The taller princess said something to the shorter one which cause a sour expression to cross her face. Selenity felt slightly amused - she was reminded of the battles that had occurred only four months ago between her own child and the four princesses who'd been invited to stay with them for the allotted two years. It seemed that princesses were terribly competitive and stubborn creatures. All accept her Selenity, she reflected, who was, it must be admitted, something of a cry-baby.

"Selenity," Neptune's Queen intoned, dragging the Queen's thoughts back to the present, "Lord Chronos and I have heard a disturbing rumor from the Silent Planet -"

Immediately Selenity's heart began to beat in fear. She tried to swallow.

"The guardian of the Outer Regions, the one who helps Pluto in her duties, has been summoned back to his home planet by a calling - as he puts it -" the Queen continued, "And he says that he has been called once more to watch over the Destroyer."

"No." Selenity whispered.

The King of Uranus' blue eyes were light, but hard as he regarded her reaction.

"It is something that cannot be stopped," he said, evenly, "You know this. The time of peace had to end eventually. It is unfortunate to live in such times, but that is the way of life."

Selenity nodded, unable to speak. If the Child of Silence had been reborn, that could only mean that her dreams portended the ultimate destruction of this world.

"Do not be so quick to fear the worst," Amphitrite spoke, gently, seeing the fear in Selenity's eyes, "She has not been awakened and is as yet nothing more than an infant. It may be that her awakening will not be for hundreds of years to come. It is not unheard of in the histories, is it?"

"No," Selenity admitted, "My mother told me something similar before she faded away."

"I have read of it," the King agreed, "Though I do not have direct experience," here he nodded to Selenity.

"Yes, you are the only living being to remember the last destruction," Amphitrite said, her expression becoming rather wondering as she looked on Selenity's unchanging face.

"It must be a heavy burden," she added.

Selenity smiled sadly.

"Immortality is both a blessing and a curse," she said, and she had said it a thousand times. Her mother, she recalled, had said it nearly ten thousand. The people of the moon were few, only about a hundred of them were alive to date. They rarely mated, rarely married, and rarely left the moon or interacted with other planets. Selenity, as the Queen and representative, was different - she liked people. She liked mortals. She always had.

"Nothing is truly beautiful that is not mortal," she quoted softly to herself.

"In all events," Queen Amphitrite broke in, "We must make ourselves ready. Our planet's senshi has not shown herself yet, but I am sure the time must be near. Whenever the Guardian of Silence is born, the Senshi of our planet are soon to follow."

"Usually they proceed her," the King put in, puzzled, "I am surprised it has not happened yet."

"We have made the necessary proclamations," Selenity said, "Everyone throughout the Galaxy has been alerted for the signs of a senshi in their children. Already we have had reports of unusual activity on Jupiter and Mars. I'm sure it won't be long before the senshi are revealed. My daughter's guardians will be chosen in less than seven years."

"Very good," Queen Amphitrite nodded.

"We will find a way to help them," the King added, "We will not let them fight alone, whoever they are. Though they will likely have a heavy destiny ahead of them."

"Indeed," Selenity murmured, "We will not leave them to make their way alone."

* * *

The Queen reappeared in a state of intense confusion.

Everywhere around her in the Crystal palace it seemed that chaos abounded. Servants were running around helter-skelter, the court was scattered through the many audience chambers talking and giving ridiculous orders, and everyone seemed to have lost their minds.

"What is going on?" Selenity demanded once her head stopped spinning from the journey back from Neptune.

She reached out a hand to snag a long white pig tail and scooped her seven-year old daughter up into her arms.

"What is going on, Selenity?" she asked.

The little Selenity looked at her with eyes wide in confusion and excitement.

"Mama! There are aliens visiting - I've never seen them before but they have really strange clothes and hair and one of them looks a lot like you - and sometimes they aren't humans at all - sometimes they turn into -"

"Luna?" The Queen asked, startled. She shifted Selenity to her other hip and walked forward to greet the tall young girl who came to meet her.

"Hello, your majesty," Luna called, delightedly. A young man, who looked to be about the same age - somewhere around fourteen or fifteen though the Queen knew he was much older than he looked - jerked his head away from the people he was trying to order around and ran over to greet the Queen and the Princess.

"I'm so happy to see you again," the Queen exclaimed, "But what are you doing here?"

"Well - it's a long story, your majesty," Artemis began, "We meant to arrive much earlier -"

"We were supposed to arrive," Luna cut in sharply, "A full seven years ago, but Someone couldn't wake up."

"I was awake and ready to go before you even remembered how to assume human form, Luna," Artemis countered.

"That is ridiculous," Luna informed him.

Selenity sighed. It had been close to one hundred years since she had last seen the two alien-cats, and the last time she had seen them they'd been in cat form - which she sometimes preferred. She had not, however, forgotten their bantering - a result of their long familiarity with each other.

"How old are you?" the princess interrupted their arguing.

Luna blinked and took a closer look at the princess.

"Well, what a question," she remarked, slightly surprised, "You ought not to ask a lady her age."

"That's alright, princess," Artemis replied, grinning at Selenity, "Luna is about seven centuries old, and I'm about nine."

"She's only a baby, really," he added, to Luna's displeasure.

"I'm seven too and I'm not a baby!" princess Selenity declared. Luna colored and tried not to laugh at Artemis's expression.

"There you are, Artemis, I hope you are properly ashamed of yourself," Selenity said with a smirk.

Artemis rolled his eyes.

"I'm out-numered in this palace full of women," he muttered, "It's not fair."

Queen Selenity and Luna laughed, and at Luna's questioning glance she handed the princess to her. Luna held Selenity gently and shifted to bear her slight weight more easily on one hip.

"My name is Luna, little one, and I'm to be your guardian's partner." she said.

"You are very beautiful, Luna." Selenity informed her, "Almost as beautiful as mama."

"Obviously the child has an eye-sight deficiency," Artemis mumbled. Luna stepped on his foot and Selenity stuck out her tongue at him.

"You and I are going to be very good friends," Luna laughed at the little princess, "I can tell."

"Yes," Queen Selenity smiled, patting Artemis' shoulder. Though the two cats were well over five hundred years old, they were still relatively teenagers in their emotional development.

"So you've come because you felt the call?" the Queen asked.

Luna and Artemis immediately sobered.

"Yes," Artemis replied, "We were awoken from our second sleep by the call. The new guardians of the princess are soon to be found - which means that there's trouble ahead."

"That's true," Selenity sighed, "I remember in my youth mother told me I was the first princess ever to be born without senshi. We didn't need them you know - "

"The thousand year peace," Luna nodded, "but now - it must mean that peace is threatened - if we're here. We cats are only awakened to train the new senshi leaders. Though I must say," she added, "I am rather excited."

"Me too," Artemis admitted, smiling, "I've heard the stories about your mother's senshi, but I never thought I would get the chance to train some first hand. I wonder who my partner will be."

"Someone beautiful and strong - like the goddess of Mars," he continued, his eyes glassing over with visions of glory.

"Likely it'll be someone as ridiculous as you," Luna muttered.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and find out," the Queen said, smiling.

"For now you are very welcome to the Moon."

"And besides," she added as the cats smiled in unison, "I need someone to help baby-sit Selenity."

* * *

For seven years the darkness grew from a small bubble into a large gulf - swallowing the demon inside of it - harnessing her power - creating an incarnation with which to touch the world once more. The thousand year peace would be shattered soon. Her imprisonment by the gods would finally be at an end.


	5. Chapter 5

**Memento Mori**

Chapter Five

"You're saying we can't be Cupids, even though we're working for love and justice?!" - Minako

* * *

Seven years had caused a great many changes in the Universe.

For instance, Mercury reflected, the Earth had sent an emissary to the Moon to discuss details of a permanent peace and neutrality agreement, and an open border policy between the two worlds. In other words, the Earth wanted to know everything that was going on with the Moon, but didn't want the Moon to have a clue of things on Earth.

Another example was herself.

In seven years, after minor adjustments each year by her creator, she was now blessed with the body of a fourteen year-old girl. And she had added emotional enhancements at her own request, including the ability to make her generator pump go faster or slower at will - in order to mimic human heart beats.

It had been a year since the Queen of Mercury, Athena II, had publicly proclaimed Mercury to be her intended heir to throne. Of course, no one knew that she wasn't human.

The Queen had carefully constructed an elaborate background for her adopted daughter that involved the android being the natural daughter of a cousin. After the death of the Queen's child, Princess Hermia, the Queen had sent for Mercury out of pity and raised the girl as her own child. And now she was both officially adopted and officially recognized as the princess of Mercury. And just in time, too.

Today was the ceremony for the choosing of the Moon Princess's guardians. It was such an auspicious event (taking into consideration that it hadn't occurred for the last thousand years) that every royal family that could be spared was expected to make an appearance one way or another.

Mercury sped her heart beat up in anticipation and practiced smiling in the mirror of her bedroom compartment.

She didn't really need or want a mirror, as a rule, but the Queen had insisted as it might seem odd if she didn't have one - and the Queen, who truly loved her adopted daughter, lived in fear of anyone discovering her secret. She was sure if the deception she had practiced on the Mercurian government was ever to be known, she would lose the crown - and more importantly, her daughter would lose her existence.

"Are you ready, my dear?" Queen Athena asked, softly. She adjusted the light blue dress that Mercury wore and the heavier cloak that hung around her shoulders.

"Yes, mother," Mercury answered.

"I'm very excited about meeting the princess," she continued, taking her mother's warm hand.

"Are you?" the Queen asked, leading her into the traveling chamber, "I'm glad. I've heard she's very beautiful."

"Is it true that she is immortal?"

The Queen wrapped her cloak around herself and Mercury imitated her actions precisely.

"The descendants of the moon live far longer than anyone else in the Universe, that we know of."

Mercury smiled to herself.

_The princess may understand then,_ she thought.

It was the one fear that Mercury possessed - because she knew what she was she knew that someday her mother would die and leave her alone - but she herself, unless her brain shut down, would never age and never die.

The Moon Princess might understand her fears. Perhaps she could teach her how to comfort her mother before this unwanted event occurred. Perhaps she could ask the Queen of the Moon to tell her the answer to her greatest question - the possibility she pondered over and over again during the long nights while the humans slept. The riddle of her own existence.

* * *

"I've been looking forward to this day for ages," Luna grumbled, pushing and shoving the coverlet of the great white bed.

"And I'll be damned if you are going to ruin it for me by over-sleeping, Selenity!"

With an exasperated sigh Luna jumped bodily onto the bed and began to dig in the covers, finding a round, white swathed bottom which she gave a very firm pinch with her claws.

"Yoooooowwwwwch!" Selenity screamed, jumping out of the bed and falling in a heap on the floor.

"Why did you do that Luna?!" She wailed, "It hurt!"

"That was the idea," Luna answered, wiping her paw as though it were covered in filth.

"Now get up, it's nearly time for the ceremony to begin and you aren't even dressed yet. Your mother and Artemis have been up for hours making arrangements - get up!"

Selenity lurched to her feet and began to search for something suitable to wear.

"We don't have time to give you a proper bathing," Luna remarked, "So go and wash your face and I'll pull your hair up."

In order to accomplish this task Luna shifted for a short moment into her less used human form and yanked Selenity's hair into two pigtails with buns, just like her mother.

"You always pull so hard," the princess complained, "I'm sensitive."

"I'll show you sensitive," Luna warned, and the princess sat up straight and washed her face with the cloth Luna handed her.

"Now, three of the four princesses you met last time will be at the ceremony and you are expected to talk to them and be generally nice and congenial -"

"Oh, no - which ones?"

"Princess Mars, Princess Jupiter and Princess Venus," Luna began and had to threaten to smack Selenity with a claw in order to make her stop groaning.

"But they bullied me," she whined, "They told me scary stories."

"I don't care," Luna replied, ruthlessly, "You will be polite. The fourth princess is called Mercury, and you haven't met her yet. She's the Queen's adopted daughter. You met her cousin last time, who I am told very tragically passed away some years ago."

"Well maybe she won't be as bad as the others."

"Get that cake out of your mouth, you've already slept through breakfast," Luna snarled, swiping the cake from Selenity's fingers.

"How am I supposed to remember all their names and planets if I'm starving!?" the princess shrieked.

"Selenity," Luna sighed, "For goodness sake, their names are the same as their planets. How hard can it possibly be?"

"Oh."

* * *

Venus sighed and tried standing on the other foot.

She was waiting to meet the Moon princess for the second time, and she hoped that it wouldn't take long. From her position on the dias of the courtyard where the royal crowd were gathered around an odd statue of a sword stuck in a piece of marble, she could see that the other princesses had already arrived.

The Martian, Mercurian and Jupiterian tents were all occupied, flags unfurled, and the symbolic tent of Pluto stood ready, manned by retainers of that lifeless planet who were selected from the ranks of other planet's officials. It was considered an honor to be a member of the Pluto Honor Guard, but from Venus' viewpoint it looked to be exceedingly boring.

She leaned down to loosen the strap of her sandal and paused when a shadow fell over her hand.

"Well, it's been some time, hasn't it?"

She knew that voice. Without hurrying she retied her sandal and flashed her visitor a charming smile.

"Hello, Princess Mars, I haven't seen you in ages, my don't you look well?"

"Thank you," the dark princess replied.

Venus noted that she was as toneless as always. Mars noted that the princess of Venus seemed to be as vapid as always.

"I'm so glad you could make it to the ceremony," Venus said, sincerely cheerfully, "I think it's going to be a lovely day for it."

"Yes, so it would seem," the other replied.

They looked at each other awkwardly, Venus searching desperately for a topic of conversation.

"Well, hello you two - still as mean as ever!?" A voice called from somewhere over her shoulder.

Venus turned to find herself staring up at a tall young woman dressed in green and pink finery. The colors of the House of Jupiter.

"Princess Jupiter?" Mars asked, quietly.

"That's right," the Jovian princess smiled, "I'm surprised you remembered me, Venus, right?"

Mars looked momentarily disgusted, and Venus bristled likewise, though she hid it better.

"No, I'm afraid you have us confused," she informed the Amazon, "I'm Venus, she's Mars."

"Oh, sorry," the friendly princess said, "Well, it's nice to see you both again, anyway."

"Yes," Mars replied, bored.

"Where's the other little princess, the little blue-haired one?" Jupiter asked, suddenly, squinting into the crowd.

"If you mean Princess Hermia," Mars answered, sedately, "She's dead."

The other two turned to look at her in surprise, but she didn't seem affected by this at all. They both belatedly remembered how weird she had been as a child. Apparently she hadn't grown out of it.

"What do you mean? They've got the tents set up and everything," Jupiter began.

"That's because the Queen adopted a new daughter some years ago," Mars informed her, "I'm told she looks remarkably similar to the former princess."

"Well, I'll be," Jupiter murmured, "That's too bad."

Venus had lost interest in the conversation and was now staring at the approaching figure of Mercury.

"I'll say she looks like her," she said to the others, "They could be twins."

Mercury approached the others with a shy smile on her pale face.

"I'm Princess Mercury," she said in her soft voice, "How do you do?"

The others murmured similar polite greetings.

"You must be Princess Venus, Mars and Jupiter," Mercury continued, "I do hope you are enjoying the fine weather."

"Yes," Venus answered, "I think it will be a good day for the ceremony."

"I don't know," Jupiter broke in, "I have a feeling that there's a storm coming on."

Venus turned to her.

"But the weather reports indicate that the day will be clear, "she said sweetly.

"That is true," Mercury put in, "There is only an estimated 3.3768959 percent chance of precipitation."

The others turned to stare at her, though Mars stared hardest. Slowly her eyes narrowed but she didn't speak.

"Well, there you have it," Venus smiled, motioning to Mercury, "There's no chance."

"I wasn't disagreeing with you," Jupiter frowned, "I'm just saying that I have a feeling that it might rain. Often times my instincts about the weather are pretty good."

"Do you mean to imply that you can predict the weather?" Mars asked haughtily. This smacked strongly of heresy.

"No," Jupiter denied, perplexed at the other girl's sudden coldness, "I'm just saying-"

"She wasn't saying anything of the kind, everyone knows only Martians can predict the future, as they are so arrogantly happy to point out," Venus broke in with a quelling look at Mars.

"I'm sorry," Mercury said, cheerfully polite, "But that's impossible."

There was a sudden silence as three pairs of eyes settled on the blue head once more.

"What did you say?" Mars asked in a deathly quiet tone.

Venus smothered a smirk at the Martian's expense.

Jupiter merely frowned and crossed her arms - after seven years these pesky princesses still hadn't managed to grow up.

"Predicting the future is impossible in normal human terms," Mercury answered, "The probability of a human correctly interpreting the amount of data necessary to accurately predict the future is not feasible. Humans do not have the capability to process so many variables within a normal lifespan."

Venus and Jupiter took a cautious step away from the glowering Martian princess.

"Are you implying that I cannot predict the future - that, in fact, thousands of years of my planet's culture and history are a lie?" Mars hissed.

The other girls watched Mercury's guileless expression with misgivings - the smaller girl obviously didn't realize she had seriously offended the Princess of Mars and her people.

"Not at all, but you cannot possibly predict the future - you are only human after all."

Mars' eyes flashed red for a moment in anger.

"Is that so?" she said, teeth and fists clenched tight, "Well, let me tell you something; I happen to be the first Priestess of the Temple of Mars and in my blood as in the blood of all our royals, flows the ancient heritage of the daimons who served the god - so you see I am not entirely human."

"I knew she was weird," Venus muttered to Jupiter. The taller girl merely nodded, her eyes wide as she observed the enlarging pupils of the Martian's strange purple eyes.

"And neither," Mars continued, "are you."

Mercury didn't blink or gasp as the other two princesses did, but her face suddenly grew a bit more solemn.

"Let's not be so hasty throwing all these accusations around," Venus began.

"Yeah, I think you two need to calm down," Jupiter said, unconsciously assuming a motherly tone of reprimand.

"What do you mean that I'm not human?" Mercury asked, quietly, her head tilted slightly to one side.

Venus and Jupiter exchanged a glance - both the princesses of Mars and Mercury were decidedly odd.

"You don't have an aura," Mars said snidely, and pointed to something invisible around their heads, looking at things that weren't there.

"All human decedents have auras - they connect with their souls and can be seen and read by Martians," she continued proudly, "But you don't have one, which can only lead me to the conclusion that -"

But before anyone could learn what the Martian's conclusion was the gay trumpets sounded, heralding the arrival of the Princess and the Queen and the beginning of the ceremony. The girls went to their separate tents to sit upon their separate pedestals and await the results of the ceremony and trial - but each of them was vaguely disturbed and ruffled by their recent conversation.

* * *

"Selenity, for goodness sake, don't slouch," Luna hissed as she sat regally on the princess's shoulder.

"I can't help it, I'm hungry," the girl hissed back, "If someone had let me eat that cake..."

"Shush!"

"My friends," Queen Selenity was saying, standing front and center at the silver pavilion at the center of the courtyard;

"I am so happy to see all of you today - it is a momentous occasion. A ceremony that has not been performed in over three thousand years. Not since my mother's time have we had Senshi to guard and guide a princess, but today the gods have seen fit to bless us with this unique and meaningful occurrence once more."

What she didn't say, but what the other royals all heard despite her words, was the warning - if new Senshi were born, there was a threat to the world. There was a need for Senshi once more - they were, like many things, a blessing and a curse.

"Thank you for coming to celebrate this most wonderful event on my daughter's fourteenth birthday - the day she will come into her adulthood and her responsibilities as the heir to the Moon Kingdom and the Silver Millennium."

The crowd let out a tremendous wave of applause and cheers, and Selentity blushed at their demonstrative support.

"Thank you," the Queen said, smiling at her daughter, "And now, I will allow my advisers to commence with the ceremony."

This was Luna's cue. She jumped down from Selenity's shoulder, changing as she did into a human, and joined Artemis, already in human form, in front of the sword and marble.

"Are you ready?" He whispered, and she could see the excitement in his eyes. Her own heart sped up - this was the moment they'd been waiting for - they were finally going to fulfill one of the greatest goals of their race.

"Ready," she smiled and, rather spontaneously, she squeezed his hand. He looked at her in surprise.

"For luck," she whispered. He nodded.

"We will now send the signal to the gods to reveal the chosen Senshi." Artemis explained, his voice amplified to the rest of the crowd by the architecture and natural acoustics of the court yard.

"Will all of the hopefuls please step forward."

They waited, eyes and ears at attention, as a group of about fifty young women stepped into the middle of the court yard. From the sea of faces Luna recognized blue haired Mercurians, the exotic looking Martians, glimmering Venusians and towering over the others - Jovians and Uranians. There were even a few sea-colored heads in the crowd - apparently the Neptunians had found several willing representatives to attend. And of course there were ten Lunarians, especially selected as the most fitting participants for the most honored position of the Moon Senshi.

Luna and Artemis joined hands and closed their eyes - immediately the moon sigils on their foreheads began to glow. Silently they called to the gods they had so recently resided with to kindly reveal their chosen avatars among those assembled.

There was a sudden flash of light and then the crowd gasped in unison as a wave of something shining and cold erupted from the two figures to flow outward - whipping through everyone gather in the courtyard like a sudden ripple in a pond. It was over in a matter of seconds.

Luna and Artemis eagerly opened their eyes and turned to survey the crowd.

"Now, you should be able to feel and see the sigils quite clearly," Luna called, trying to keep the anticipation out of her voice, "So don't be shy, please step forward."

She and Artemis scanned the crowd, searching anxiously as the selected representatives looked confusedly at one another. Suddenly there was a scream from the Venusian tent.

The Queen of Venus was standing up, waving her arms in a hysterical manner and shouting.

"I won't have it!" She shrieked, "She cannot be a Senshi, she is the crown princess!"

At first no one understood what had happened.

"There has been a mistake," the Martian High Priest thundered, "Someone has made a mistake, this is not possible."

"I don't understand," Luna called to him, as she and Artemis walked through the parting crowd to approach the royal tents.

"We made no mistake, what is -" They both stopped dead in their tracks in front of the Jovian tent.

There, looking rather embarrassed but somehow very regal, stood the tall Jovian princess - and emerald signal of Jupiter shone like a beacon on her brow.

"How can it be possible?" Artemis whispered, his eyes wide.

"It's been known to happen before, "Luna answered, shocked, "Sometimes it does happen that a royal becomes a Senshi - but it hasn't happened in -"

"I will not have it!" The Queen of Venus yelled, dragging her daughter over to the group. From the beautiful Venusian's fair forehead the sigil glowed warm and golden.

"Take it off!" The Queen demanded, her face beginning to crumble as she lost all control of her emotions.

Artemis and Luna stared at the two royal children, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, but it appears that I also have a similar problem," the Princess of Mars said quietly. The sigil flamed on her forehead - impossible to ignore.

"She cannot be a Senshi," her grandfather said, his odd purple eyes flashing in anger, "She has sacred duties to the temple of Mars which she cannot break upon pain of death."

"Venus, Mars, Jupiter," Luna counted, ignoring the outraged royalty, "Where's the fourth?"

As one they all turned to look toward the Mercurian tent, the only other formal tent erected.

The stunned eyes of the Mercurian Queen met Luna's in an instant of quiet understanding. Tears sprang to her eyes as she led the quiet princess forward and swept back the heavy bangs from her forehead. The blue sigil glowed faintly on her skin, but it was definitely there.

"She is chosen," the Queen said, her voice quiet with tears, "I am so proud of her."

She knelt and threw her arms around the small girl, embracing her and weeping silently. Luna watched as the girl calmly, almost absently patted her mother's shoulders.

"Don't cry, mother," Princess Mercury said in even tones, "Please. It will be alright."

"Will it?"

They turned to see Queen Selenity watching them all with an unfathomable expression on her face.

"How can you ask us to sacrifice our daughters, our heirs, to the life of a Senshi!?" The Jovian Queen demanded, placing a protective hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"It cannot be asked, it cannot be demanded," the Martian Priest put in, "You have no right."

"It goes against the law of god, surely."

The Venusian Queen only wept as her daughter's face darkened in frustration.

"It would seem," the Moon Queen spoke at last, "That the gods have chosen a destiny which none of us foresaw. An unusual happening - but sometimes we must allow for things that have never happened before to happen."

"You ask me how I can ask you for such a sacrifice?" she continued, meeting all their eyes, one-by-one, "I ask myself how I can ask these young women for such a sacrifice. But I must. I must ask them, just as I must ask my own beloved daughter."

They all grew instantly silent and Luna felt her knees begin to buckle. The Queen drew Princess Selenity forward and they all saw the Moon sigil shining brightly on her forehead.

"But -" Luna began, she wavered and felt someone put a stong arm around her waist. She heard Artemis' voice close to her ear asking;

"The Princess is the chosen Senshi of the Moon?"

"So it would seem," the Queen answered. She gazed in sadness at her daughter, it looked for a moment as though her heart was breaking.

"So I must ask you, Selenity, if you will put your life aside and take up the honor of a Senshi - to protect our kingdom and our universe?" The Queen asked, her voice suddenly formal and hard.

Selenity looked uncertainly at her mother, then at the other princesses gathered around her, the light of their sigils creating a rainbow of color.

She saw doubt, uncertainty and frustration in their faces - but no fear. The Maritan princess had set her lips determinedly, her purple eyes held a doubtful pride. The face of Jupiter revealed worry, she still had a hand over her mothers where it rested on her shoulder, but there was a light in her eyes that seemed to indicate that she too felt a stirring of pride, and perhaps longing. The Mercurian princess's eyes were hard to decipher, but they watched Selenity's own with a steady, supportive promise - a calm assurance. The Venusian princess's features spoke of inner conflict, but Selenity glimpsed a fierce and almost desperate yearning - as though she scented for the first time all the possibilities of a greater destiny than the one she'd been resigned to - in her eyes there was a spirit of excitement.

Selenity turned to face her mother and met her serene blue eyes with confidence.

"I will."


	6. Chapter 6

**Memento Mori**

Chapter Six

"If we didn't meet Usagi, we all would be alone!" -Sailor Mars

* * *

_What am I doing here?_

Princess Jupiter took a deep, calming breath and looked down at her now bare hands. She had removed her gloves, pale green satin and pink lace, and put them aside to grasp the cool silver hilt of the sword that was stuck fast in a mound of blue-veined marble.

_I shouldn't be here...I'm not a warrior..._

She had never wanted to be anything more than what she was already. Being a princess was hard enough without the added responsibility of being one of only four Planetary Protectors.

She could feel the eyes of everyone in the courtyard staring at her back, watching as she attempted (at the Queen's request) to pull the Moon Sword out of its resting place. If she succeeded it would mark her as the leader of the Princess's Guard.

She tightened her hold on the glinting metal and flinched as she felt it vibrate from her touch. It wouldn't be too much to say that the whole process thus far weirded her out immensely.

First, to be chosen, seemingly at random, by the god to be his avatar - and a Senshi, no less - would that mean she had to learn to fight? If it came to that, she knew her resolutions...

She closed her eyes and gripped the hilt hard, pulling with all her strength. In her heart she sent a single prayer -

_Please, Jove, not me!_

There was a rumble in the earth and her forehead felt hot again, as it had the first time the sigil had shone itself. She opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

The sword hadn't budged an inch.

Gratefully, but trying not to seem too grateful, she gathered her gloves and moved to one side to stand next to the Mercurian princess as Princess Mars approached the sword.

* * *

The Martian approached with calm confidence.

She was the oldest, and, arguably, the wisest. She was almost certain that the sword would choose her as its wielder - the only other choices were the Venusian (she scoffed to even consider such a thought) and the Mercurian...and _she _wasn't even human.

Mars had realized almost immediately that there was something different about Mercury - something inhuman and cold. She wasn't flesh and blood, of that Mars was sure. But then, she held the sigil of the gods on her forehead - only a human being, only a being with a soul - could be chosen by the gods. But she saw no auras to indicate that Mercury possessed a soul..so how had it been possible?

And more importantly, if Mercury wasn't human...then what was she?

Mars wondered, briefly, if she should attempt to banish the odd girl in front of her with a well placed command - but decided that under the circumstances this might appear rude.

Dismissing the problem for the moment, she focused instead on the much larger issue at hand. Pulling the Moon Sword from the marble.

She closed her eyes, and with hardly any effort, willed her spirit into silence and calm. She reached out and took a firm grip on the weapon, noticing the faint buzzing sensation it produced in her palm. Focusing all her energy and spirit into this one movement she pulled with all her strength on the hilt.

There was a flare and a gasp and she opened her eyes.

The sword had moved an inch, but it hadn't come out.

_I'm not the leader?_

She stared at it in wonder as the Venusian princess turned to take her place.

* * *

_Please, mother Aphrodite, sister Psyche, please by all the goddesses and demi-goddesses of love and beauty - please don't let it be me..._

All her life it had been natural for Venus to assume command - she was bossy, yes; sometimes even impetuous, but this was the one time in her life that she had never wanted to be further from the role of leadership.

_If it's me -_ she thought, gazing in anxiety at the winking silver hilt - _If it's me - I don't know what I'll do..._

She knew what it would mean to take on the role of leader of the Senshi. She would have to shoulder responsibility - and that was something she wanted no part of.

It was fine to order people around, to manipulate those who's wills were weaker - especially when she did it for their own good - but to be in charge of commanding these specific women? All princesses and Senshi - it was almost the definition of competitive stubborn mule-headedness.

And the future that had gleamed so brightly? If she were a Senshi she would be noticed, she would be a star in a galaxy of lesser stars - people would look up to her and vie for her love and attention. People would love her simply for who she was - the position that she owned. And perhaps if they were all lucky, which she suspected they would be, they would never have to actually fight!

But if she were the leader...well...

It would probably take all the fun out of being a senshi, that was for sure and certain.

_You better not do this to me, Lady Venus,_ she warned, _Please!?_

At a discrete cough from the strange dark-haired cat-person, Venus squinted her eyes, stuck out her tongue and touched the sword very gently - taking as light a grip as possible. With a half-hearted effort she acted as though she were pulling with all her strength; secretly her toes were crossed.

There was a sudden flash of warmth through her entire body and a dazzling light flooded the small space. When it vanished Venus found herself blinking stupidly at the sword held easily in her right hand.

* * *

_I'm glad it was her_...Mercury thought, watching with amusement and curiosity as the Venusian princess continued to stare at the sword in her hand as if it were a figment of her imagination.

The entire court was staring at her as well, as if they couldn't believe what had just happened. Princess Mars looked ready to have a heart attack.

"The Sword has chosen its wielder," the Queen intoned loudly.

Mercury stole a glance at the white-haired alien cat and saw that he was having a choking fit.

"If you will please step up and put your hand to the sword," the dark haired cat-woman said to her quietly, "It's a formality meant to bind you to the princess."

Mercury nodded and obliged, though it was rather difficult to extricate the sword from the Venusian's death grip.

As soon as she touched it she felt her arm begin to vibrate and felt the electrical wire inside of her hum gently - it was a very pleasant sensation. She handed the sword back to Venus who seemed surprised that she was required to hold the thing.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the Queen continued, "I present to you the new Senshi of the present Age - Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon."

The crowd cheered, though, Mercury noted, some of the members did not seem as enthusiastic. Her own mother looked sad, tired and a trifle worn - but her eyes shone with pride as they caught Mercury's glance.

The Martian Priest and the Queen of Jupiter still looked angry, and the Queen of Venus had been taken to her tent after a fit of hysterics.

The five young women looked at each other uncertainly as the crowd began to disperse. As one they turned to look at the Queen who was having a heated discussion with the two cats.

"- understand," the male was saying, "But how is the Senshi of the Moon supposed to protect the princess when she _is_ the princess!?"

"I don't know, Artemis," the Queen answered, patiently, "But there must be a reason that they were chosen as they were."

"Well it seems to me that this whole thing has got to be a mistake," the female cat argued, "I love Selenity with all my heart, but it isn't possible by any stretch of the imagination that she could ever have been meant to be a warrior."

"Excuse me," Jupiter interrupted them. They stopped at once and looked at her expectantly.

Feeling a bit embarrassed to have all eyes suddenly on her, the tall princess colored slightly.

"I was just wondering, eh, now that we're chosen and everything...well...what do we do?"

The grown-ups stared at one another in an abashed silence while the Princess of Mars rolled her eyes pointedly.

"Uh - well, that is," Artemis began, then stopped and threw a helpless glance at Luna and the Queen.

The Queen gave the girls a genuine and understanding smile.

"I know you are all probably feeling a bit overwhelmed right now," she said, kindly, "Believe me, we're all rather unsettled by today's unexpected events -"

"You can say that again," Artemis muttered.

"But I think it's clear that we're all going to have to work together to make the most of the gift we've been given. Selenity, why don't you show the girls the rooms we've prepared for them?"

The Moon Princess nodded enthusiastically. Of all the young women gathered together there in the almost empty courtyard she alone seemed to think the day had gone rather splendidly.

* * *

"I'm so glad that we all know each other already," Selenity began, leading them back toward the palace and chattering a mile a minute while Mars' face grew darker and Venus continued to get her bearings.

"You see, I remember I didn't really like any of you very much when we were children," the princess explained, candidly, "Except for you, of course, Mercury - since we've never met before - how do you do, by the way?"

"I'm quite well, thank you," Mercury replied politely.

"Excellent," Selenity continued, rounding a long hallway, "Well, I know we didn't exactly get along in the past, but now that we're all grown up and living together and being a team and all that - I think we're going to have a lot of fun! Don't you think so?"

She paused outside an inner chamber that opened out from the hall. It was large enough to hold at least fifty people comfortably and also had four doors - two on one side of the room, and two on the other. In the wall facing the hall way was an archway that led to a smaller hall and another door.

"I used to sleep in the West part of the Palace, but now that you're all here I decided to move my room into the old conservatory, that way we'll be able to be together."

"And, it has a great view of the Earth at night," she added for their edification.

"Wait," Jupiter commanded and the others jumped at the emotion in her voice.

"Let me get this straight, we're going to _stay _here!?" she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, yes," Selenity answered, doubtfully.

"We're going to, in fact, _live_ here?"

"That's right."

"With you."

"Yes."

"On the Moon?"

"As you can see," Selenity giggled.

Jupiter looked around her and then crossed her arms emphatically.

"Well I'm not going to do it," she stated flatly.

The Moon Princess's blue eyes grew wide.

"Neither am I," Mars informed them all, primly.

"I have duties on Mars that are far more imp-" she stopped herself, reconsidered, and continued, "Far more pressing at the moment than remaining on the Moon with you. I simply cannot tolerate it."

Mercury watched in anxious anticipation as Venus's eyes finally focused.

"That's it," she said.

Jupiter and Mars halted in their ill-timed exit and turned to face her, almost against their wills.

"You two aren't going anywhere," Venus commanded, a new found confidence in her voice and manner. She pointed at them with the Moon Sword and jabbed in the air to emphasize her words.

"You are staying here," at Jupiter, "And you are staying here,"with special emphasis at Mars, "And I don't want to hear another word about it."

"You can't order me around!" Mars exclaimed, "I am a princess and you -"

"I," Venus cut in, imperiously, "Am your leader, and that means you do what I think is best."

Mars opened and closed her mouth in utter shock and outrage.

"Listen," Jupiter said, her eyes narrowing, "I don't want a quarrel with you, Princess Venus, but -"

"Sailor Venus," Venus corrected, "And I don't want a quarrel with you either, but I'll finish one if there's one to be had."

Jupiter was beginning to feel bewildered, and more than a little angry.

"You don't get it do you?" Venus asked, suddenly, eying them both with an intense and somewhat startling expression.

"Don't get what?" Mars counted, "That we can't go home because some stupid sword picked you to be the leader?"

"No, you don't seem to understand what's really happened here. You aren't just a princess anymore," Venus argued, "You're a Senshi. You may not like it - heck, I sure as hell don't -"

The Moon princess gasped softly.

"But the point of the matter is that when you said 'I will' to the Queen and when you put your hand on this sword, you made a promise to defend the Universe and its future Queen at the sacrifice of your own life."

_That's why she's the leader_ - Mercury thought, approvingly.

Mars, Jupiter and even the Moon Princess stared at Venus in silence. It was clear that, until now, they had avoided the reality of what had just happened to them.

"But -" Jupiter began, her lively face growing slack, "But...when will I see my mother? Or my little sister?"

"I won't be able to train with Grandfather," Mars murmured, "I mean, with the High Priest."

"I never thought of it that way," Selenity said, sadly. Suddenly she burst into tears.

"I'm so sorry! This is all my fault!!"

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Mars sighed, and put a none-too-gentle hand on the princess's shoulders.

"It is!" Selenity continued to wail, "If it weren't for me the rest of you could lead normal lives - you wouldn't have to give up everything - you must hate me so much! I wish I'd never been born."

She was now in a heap on the floor, sobbing for all she was worth. The remaining girls shared an awkward and remorseful glance - and one of sudden and tacit understanding. A barrier came down between them in that moment - they all felt a bond, small, but unmistakable, take hold between them and begin to grow.

Slowly, Jupiter knelt beside the princesss and, timidly at first, but then with real feeling, gathered her into her arms as she would have her little sister - even though Selenity was older than she.

"It's alright," she soothed, patting Selenity's back, "We don't blame you. You didn't choose for this to happen."

"It was fate," Mars stated, sourly, but she came to stand beside them.

"There was nothing any of us could have done so we might as well make the most of it," Venus added, though her heart rebelled inside of her. She ignored her feelings and let the Moon Sword slide unceremoniously to the marble floor as she bent over to help Jupiter pat the forlorn princess. Mercury came last and put a gentle hand on the princess's head, and, with great good will, patted her as she might have a dog.

The princess let out a shaky breath.

"I suppose that's true," she said at last, while tears continued to fall silently down her face, "I mean, what are the odds that I would be chosen to be my own personal guardian, and that only the princesses of their respective planets would be my Senshi?"

"About one in three point five billion, seventy-five million, nintey-three thousand and fifty-two," Mercury answered, promptly.

The others blinked at her.

"And that's something else that doesn't make sense," Mars began - but Mercury held up a hand.

"I suppose, since we are all to be companions," she said, regarding them solemnly, "that I ought to tell you that I am not entirely human."

"I thought so," Mars snapped, her eyes slitting; unconsciously she moved to stand a bit closer to Selenity. The others just continued to stare.

"So, what are you?" Jupiter asked, a bit timidly.

Mercury smiled and said, "I'm an Automated- Fully Synthesized -Simulated Human Interelational Protoype, model number one. An -"

"Android," Mars finished.

"You're a robot?!" Jupiter gulped, almost squeezing the life out of the Moon Princess in her surprise.

Mercury frowned slightly, "No, I am an Aut-"

"Right, right," Jupiter stuttered, "I got that - it's just...I don't get it."

"You're an android, really?" Selenity asked; her tone suggested more wonder than surprise or fear.

"That's so amazing!"

"Yes," Mercury answered, smiling diffidently.

"Does your mother know?" she pursued.

Mercury's smile broadened.

"Of course. She is the one who named me and adopted me. I love her."

"You love her?" Mars questioned, rather sharply "Do you know what love is?"

Venus, silent through this exchange, watched closely as Mercury considered for a moment before replying.

"Love is the feeling humans have toward one another that constitutes a firm attachment between them, and is usually expressed by extreme loyalty, thoughtfulness, and consideration. It is a willingness to put another before oneself."

"Wow, I guess she does know," Jupiter exclaimed.

"Yes, but do you feel it?" Mars countered, "I mean, can you feel without a soul?"

"What is a soul? Where is it found?" Mercury asked in turn.

Mars was, for once, silent.

Venus smiled up at Mercury and extended her hand.

"Well, I for one, am completely satisfied. Human, android, alien, even, gods help us, a barbarian Earthling - I don't care what you are. As long as you're willing I say welcome to the family!"

Mercury took her hand reticently but seemed pleased when Venus gave it a firm shake.

"Does this mean we are friends, Princess Venus?" she asked.

"Call me Venus," she replied, cheerfully, "And since we'll be living together, possibly for the rest of our lives, I think it would be in our best interests to be friends - don't you?"

"Indeed, Venus" Mercury nodded, happily.

"You are the first friend I've ever had."


	7. Chapter 7

**Memento Mori**

Chapter Seven

"I didn't expect you to be able to keep up with me." -Sailor Uranus

* * *

Queen Selenity closed her tired eyes for a moment.

"Let me understand this," she spoke, wearily, "Not only have the gods chosen my own daughter as the Senshi of the Moon, as well as the heirs to their respective planets as the primary Senshi, but now you're telling me that Neptune and Uranus' Senshi have also been revealed as their planets' princesses?"

"Yes, my Queen."

The odd looking woman with dark hair and eyes inclined her head. The Queen sighed.

"This is too much."

The Queen, after suffering through the exhausting task of convincing the rulers of Mars, Jupiter and Venus to let their heirs remain on the Moon (in effect, an unspoken promise consecrating and thus relinquishing their children to a life of great difficulty), she now had to face the reality that the further-est planets had chosen their Senshi as well - which meant that the time of the Destroyer was near.

Standing before her was a figure more terrifying than she at first appeared to be. She looked like an ordinary, albeit very beautiful woman, but she was in fact one of two beings set aside since the beginning to guard and watch over the Destroyer - Saturn's heir. Her name was Ops.

"It is a heavy burden, my Queen," Ops conceded, flicking the long, semi-transparent black veils she wore around her.

"But it is one which we must shoulder."

The Queen heard the weariness in Ops' voice and silently reprimanded herself for her selfish whining. The heaviness of her destiny was nothing compared to the burden of the being before her.

"Tell me more."

"The child of Ruin is seven years of age now," Ops replied, her breath stirring the veils of her face slightly, "And still unawakened. Capricorn guards her as he has always done, but he says that there is nothing unusual in her behavior thus far. We keep her sequestered in Titan Castle, and she is a very ordinary child. Rather solemn."

Selenity felt a pang at the thought that the child, through no fault of her own, must be forced to live alone with only the two guardians for company until her terrible destiny was done. Ops, unaware of her Queen's wondering thoughts, continued:

"The children of the Sky and the Ocean are awakened as Senshi, which is disturbing, but not tantamount to destruction."

"Yes, they were not supposed to be reborn, let alone awakened. My mother told me as much... All of it goes so fast."

The Queen sighed and sat up.

"It is true that the three talisman bearers must be together for the - for Saturn to awaken," she murmured, "And the others are only children still."

"They are young women, my Queen," Ops corrected, mildly, "They are both two years past the age of adulthood."

"But you are right," she continued, "The three who hold the talismans must be gathered together in once place for the Destroyer to awaken. And since Pluto cannot leave her post..."

"It can never happen?" The Queen finished, lightly. Her face was grim.

"That is sound logic, Ops," she replied, "But I fear there is something we do not see."

"What is that, your majesty?"

The Queen stood and paced around the small receiving hall, picking worriedly at her gown. She stopped by the window that showed a view of the twirling blue Earth as it made its arc through the night sky.

"I wish I knew."

* * *

"You're crazy."

Neptune smirked at the skeptical tone of her husky-voiced companion.

"I'm not crazy, as you very well know," she replied, primly.

Uranus eyed her with a displeased look - she had her wiry arms crossed on her flat chest. Even though they were near the same age (sixteen) she was by far the taller of the two. She peered down her aquiline nose at Neptune.

"I'm telling you that we aren't supposed to be Senshi - it's all a mistake. Haven't you heard the rumors from Jupiter?"

"What of them?" Neptune demanded, sitting gracefully in a coral carved chair in her balcony room in Triton Castle.

"The gods chose us as their avatars," she declared, setting her pretty jaw determinedly and fixing her only companion with a steady and penetrating gaze.

"That means that being Senshi is our destiny. We have a purpose for being what we are - don't you want to find out what it is?"

Uranus scowled at her and paced in silence. Finally she turned around and took a breath.

"Of course I do," she admitted, "But how can we? No one will tell us anything because they're all scared of the Soldier of Silence."

"I know," Neptune answered, reclining in her chair. She crossed her long legs and Uranus coughed, looking away.

"Is something wrong?" Neptune asked, concerned at the cough.

"Are you chilled? I know it's rather damp in here, perhaps more than you are used to."

"No, no it's nothing," Uranus waved the questions aside, showing just a faint flush along her high cheek bones.

Neptune frowned. Ever since Uranus had returned to visit her in the summer of their sixteenth year, she had been acting rather odd.

Though they'd had a rocky beginning to their friendship - since both were fiercely competitive and stubborn - they'd soon grown very close, closer than sisters now. Neptune considered Uranus her best friend, the closest companion she'd ever had. Their solitary lives and the lack of social interaction with others their age (the populations of Uranus and Neptune not being even half those of the other planets) had solidified that exclusive friendship. They were both inclined to conceal feelings and mutually picky about whom they spoke or interacted with. Neptune thought it was these likenesses that had helped them understand each other so well in the first place.

In the past years they had developed such a close bond with one another that they often knew what the other was thinking before speaking. Also, Uranus was the only person Neptune felt comfortable sharing any kind of physical contact with that involved affection. She endured kisses from her mother and father, and didn't mind children or girls her own age, but she did not care for the all too wondering hands of young princes, or the put upon airs of her fellow Neptunian courtiers and royals. When she and Uranus sat together on the same settee, or, every once in a while, lay side by side in the lawn or inside watching a storm, she felt no distaste for the intimacy or familiarity of the connection. She had always assumed that Uranus felt the same.

It was true that the tall Uranian was even shyer of contact than she, but Uranus never seemed to mind if Neptune embraced her or sat close to her. There were times when Uranus even intiated these forms of affection between the two - something Neptune hadn't seen her do with anyone else. Well, not sincerely - the girl did like to joke and flirt occasionally. Uranus especially enjoyed taking advantage of her slim frame, handsome face, and her brother's clothes to fool a ridiculous royal or two into fancying herself infatuated with the Princess. It didn't help that they were surrounded by obsequious servants and prattling, shallow courtiers who would look on intimacy as a way to curry favor.

But now things were suddenly and inexplicably changed. Ever since Uranus' arrival Neptune had sensed an odd distance between them. There were times when she sat a certain way, or when she dressed a certain way, that she caught Uranus looking at her with an odd expression she'd never seen before. Sometimes when she touched Uranus' arm, the other girl would give a cough and flinch away. And she was less and less inclined to sit with Neptune, or to lie with her on the grass - in fact, all the girlish and sisterly intimacy they had once known was becoming strained. Whenever Neptune had thought to bring it up Uranus always blushed and changed the topic. But Neptune thought her eyes looked almost sad, perhaps even wistful?

But she knew, better than anyone, that Princess Uranus wouldn't admit she had any problems until she was good and ready to - and then, only on her own terms. So Neptune continued to pretend she didn't notice the change and to wait patiently for Uranus to let her in on the secret.

"Well," she resumed her topic, "I think we ought to investigate on our own, since no one else will tell us. And I think the first thing we should figure out is; who is the Soldier of Silence?"

Uranus' blue eyes flashed.

"It all seems to boil down to that," she agreed reticently, "There's something about her that makes it dangerous for us. I heard father speaking about it once, when he thought I couldn't hear."

"What did he say?" Neptune pounced eagerly. Uranus smiled in spite of herself and leaned closer to her companion.

"He said," she murmured, "That if all of the talisman bearers were gathered in one place it would wake the Soldier of Silence. And I think if she wakes up something bad will happen."

"Who are the talisman bearers?"

"I think he meant us," Uranus answered, "You and me and Princess Pluto. She's a Senshi too, you know."

"Yes; formerly the only Senshi and princess," Neptune agreed, "Though I suppose she can't help that, since she's also the only Plutonian in the entire Galaxy."

"I feel sorry for her," Uranus commented, frowning.

"Me too."

They looked at each other and smiled, the thought unspoken between them was that they were very grateful for each other.

"So what is a talisman?" Neptune asked.

"What?" Uranus seemed to have lost the thread of the conversation and was looking at Neptune with that odd expression.

"Talismans," Neptune repeated, and watched with curiosity as Uranus seemed to snap out of her reverie, blushing slightly.

"Oh, right," she answered, gruffly, "Well, I don't really know what they are - he didn't say anything else about them."

Neptune sighed in frustration.

"Well, first let's find out about Senshi, in particular how to set about being one." she suggested and stood, grabbing the other girl's hand. Uranus gave a yelp and dropped her hand immediately.

"Where are you going?" she asked, trying to cover her reaction.

"To the library, of course, where else?" Neptune returned, her face betraying her suspicion.

"Are you suddenly afraid of libraries or something?"

"No! Don't be ridiculous," Uranus muttered, flexing her hand, "You just startled me, is all."

"Uh-huh." Neptune crossed her arms, her face clearly betraying her skepticism.

"Oh, go to the library yourself, then!" Uranus blurted out, abruptly turning her back on the other girl.

She took a few breaths to calm herself where Neptune couldn't see.

"Uranus?"

Uranus cringed at the tone in Neptune's voice - hurt.

"Have I - is there - are you angry with me? Did I do something wrong?" the other girl asked, softly.

Uranus clenched her teeth and all her rigidity immediately melted away. She turned quickly with an anxious look and seized the smaller girl by the shoulders.

"No," she declared, desperately, "You didn't do anything! I'm not angry, I'm just - just - eh - it's - it's that time," she said, nodding vigorously.

"I'm moody," she added, as if that explained everything.

"Oh," Neptune answered, trying to keep the doubt out of her voice. Then she smiled and impulsively leaned in to kiss Uranus on the cheek.

"Well, stop being moody and start being my friend," she suggested.

Uranus stared at her, their faces still rather close. She blinked twice then took Neptune's hand in hers and abruptly pulled the girl through the door in the direction of the library. Neptune wanted to laugh at the other girl's quick change of mind, but she caught the pinkness still staining Uranus's cheeks and her mirth died prematurely.

What in the world was wrong with the girl?

* * *

Pluto watched events march on through the stream that was Time - a never ending circle.

The end of time - that was when everyone said the Destroyer would come...but didn't they know? Time was eternal. There was no such thing as the End of Time.

Sometimes she thought that Selenity understood this - understood the idea that in order for life and time to continue on their unending circle, death and life had to keep following each other. Without one, the other could not be.

She turned in her blind refuge and listened to the voices in the darkness of time.

She heard the beloved and cheerful sounds of the Moon princess's voice, and smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Golden Age**

Chapter Eight

"Her eyes are so dark and deep, like you could be sucked in. It's like she knows everything..." -Usagi (about Hotaru)

* * *

The air on Saturn was so cold that it burned.

If you weren't used to it, that is.

Ops and her companion guardian, Capricorn, stood outside the small room at the top of the crumbling onyx-like tower that served as the last remaining piece of the Bastion that had once been Titan Castle. For aeons it had sat enthroned in dark ice on a dark blue planet, completing its year at the end of every 30 Earth years. But no one went by Earth years - only the Pan-Galactic calendar was official, and had been instated to promote the lessening of confusion over time and distances in light-travel and teleportation. The Mercurians had invented it, but no one besides them really understood it.

Princess Saturn didn't even know of its existence. But then, there were many things she didn't know.

Sitting on her cushion in the middle of the circular, smooth stone room, the child Saturn looked out on a frozen world with a hazy cloud of gasses and storms above the sheltering dome that allowed her planet to sustain life. There were only three lives to sustain on Saturn, and only a dome the size of the largest Venusian city - Helen, the Golden City - to supply a livable environment for them.

Since her earliest remembrance, Saturn could recall nothing but the vague, colorless sky, blocking out all the stars, all the planets, and the sunlight. An impenetrable mist lay over the land and it was the same mist that clouded her own self-awareness and knowledge. No one had ever told her anything of her past. All she knew was that Ops and Capricorn took care of her, fed her when she was hungry, bathed her, put her to bed, talked to her, entertained her, and kept her company.

It was at this moment that Ops entered, standing before her small charge while her luminous black veils wavered gently around her face. Saturn had never seen the face beneath the veil, she wasn't even sure there was a face, but she knew the voice very well and found it soothing. Ops motioned toward the small adjoining room that held the large silver tub. It was bath time. Saturn suppressed a sigh and stood, carefully dusting off her short tunic. Soon, she hoped, she would be accounted responsible enough to take her own baths.

Capricorn stood outside the doors during the bathing, blanketing and story process. Saturn knew he was there, though he was silent. Everything on the planet Saturn was silent. There were no animals, not even bugs or insects, and Ops was the only person allowed to speak to her. Capricorn had taken a vow of silence, Ops had explained once at Saturn's pestering, as a mark of respect to her position. But Saturn privately wished he had taken a vow of talkativeness instead. She was so often bored.

Ops had taught her to read, painstakingly, though she was very intelligent; but there were only one book in the entire castle, everything else had been long decayed or lost in the long centuries that the descendents of Saturn had waited to be called back to their posts. Ops, it seemed, had an indeterminable lifespan, or so Saturn understood, but then she didn't actually know how long a 'normal' lifespan was - only that there were other creatures resembling herself in the world and some of them lived longer than others. That was the nature of Death.

If there was one subject that Saturn understood, one that she had studied, that subject was Death. She knew its forms, she understood its place in the circle of the Universe; she knew the doors of Death and the forms that must be followed concerning its parameters and jurisdiction. She knew how to call Death, how to ivoke it, how to swim through it and, most importantly, she knew how to die.

The one book had taught her how. Its dragonfly-thin pages were bound carefully in dark brown and black leather, stitched together who-knows-how long ago with a coarse sort of thread and it was titled, appropriately enough, The Book of Death.

This was the book Saturn had been taught to read, and it held all the knowledge she possessed of life outside of her tower in Titan castle.

Ops's occasional stories were full of hints about life. In them, strange stars navigated the universe in search of the answeres to ancient riddles. Stars were always the protagonists of Ops's stories, never human beings. At five years old, Saturn had once asked her, "Are we stars?"

Ops had replied, "No. We are people. But when we die we become stars."

"Why?"

"Because our bodies are made of stardust."

Saturn never questioned her. There was no other reference against which to judge anything Ops said. Saturn had no concept of mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, lovers, pets, enemies...she did not have a reference for relationships. All she knew was that Death and Life existed in an eternal relationship.

She was seven years old.

The Book of Death held her entire known world, and through it, inversely, she came to know life - or perhaps, merely to dream of it.

* * *

On Earth, on a dark night, in a stable yard overlooking a wide, glassy lake, the wind blew the limbs of trees in a gentle swaying motion.

A young girl, bright-eyed, pretty, with burnished hair the color of apples, just turned sixteen, stared up at the night sky.

The moon was full that night, and the stars around it were pale in comparison. But Venus shone brightly, and it was on that star that the girl made a wish.

From the stable yard, her father's voice interrupted her wishing. He was calling her to come in and help with the horses - to find her brothers and sisters, to clean up the baby and feed the toddler.

She sighed and stood.

In the night, so fast she almost didn't see it, a man on horseback went riding by.

In the moonlight his hair appeared sable, a sharp contrast to his pale skin. He was handsome, she imagined, and young - nearly her age, perhaps a little older. His gangliness was being replaced by strength and gracefulness.

The horse he rode cantered down the small lane that ran beside the main road, the road that led to the palace where Earth's rulers lived. She had never seen the king or queen, but she'd seen pictures of the prince, Endymion, his image was on the gold coins. She loved to stare at it and imagine that he would appear out of no-where to whisk her away on some kind of adventure. In these adventures she always managed to rescue him from some terrible calamity - usually an otherworld witch or deceptively beautiful fairy woman. He would be fooled for a moment by the magic, but then he would come to realize, after she had proven her undying loyalty, that she was the one he truly loved.

It was her favorite story.

The man on horseback who might have been the prince, or might have been a farmer's boy out for a night ride, disappeared down the road to the palace. She wanted to follow him, even if he was only a figment of her imagination.

"Beryl!" her father's voice recalled her.

She tucked up her skirts and ran, not wanting to incur another bruise on her arm from his sometimes forceful discipline.

"Coming!" she called out, "I'm coming!"


	9. Chapter 9

**The Golden Kingdom**

Chapter Nine

* * *

A tall young man, just turned twenty-one, with curling chocolate hair and dark eyes, their color indeterminable, lounged against the pillar of the Castle's main hall, adjoining the ball-room and the opposite study.

In the Ball Room, couples danced and twirled in an array of pale satins and laces, the women in pinks, pale greens, chartreuse, paisley, salmon, forget-me-not and peach. The men were as brightly dressed as the women, their clothing in rich burgundies, red velvets and dark blue satins, gold trimming and silver braiding, black polished boots and shimmering swords.

The young man leaned against the colum, his long legs sheathed in skin-tight fawn colored trousers, riding boots of polished black and a trim fitting deep blue coat with gold trim and ivory lace at the cuffs. His long hair was tied back on the nape of his neck with a blue satin ribbon, though he usually let it hang free down his shoulders - mostly because he knew it made him look dark, brooding and excessively attractive.

He watched the figures dancing, sitting, flirting, fanning, talking, eating and drinking in the hall. A handsome young man, dressed in black and silver satin with epaulets on his broad shoulders, but no other marker of royalty to distinguish him, stood speaking with several older men in uniform. The young man's black hair was cut short in a military fashion, no long, dandy-like curls pulled into a ribbon like many of the other young men around him. Despite the fastidiousness of the style, his short hair only made him appear more serious and handsome, as the looks of several ladies were only too ready to admit.

Nephrite sighed. Balls bored him to death. What happened after balls was very exciting, of course. The women, always ready to drink a bit too much, were tipsy and needed to be escorted, helped and...any other service he might be able to provide. But during balls, life was torture.

He stiffled another yawn and watched a pretty blonde make her third attempt to engage the shy, beautiful boy who sat a little too rigidly just behind the piano. It was Zosite, of course, the youngest, just turned eighteen and as shy as a school girl at her first coming out. His long, reddish blond, curling hair was pulled back in a green silk ribbon, but tendrils continually drooped in his face and he paused every three seconds to brush them away with an irritated gesture. His large, green eyes - girl's eyes, Nephrite reflected, with their elaborate lashes, too dark for a blond to own - scanned the room anxiously, seeking an opening to bolt for cover should he need to.

Nephrite was tempted to laugh. Zoisite, the only real scholar among the group of Endymion's Shitennou, was at home in a school room or a laboratory, but put him in front of a group of dancing ladies only too willing to make much of his amazing good looks and he became a tongue-tied nincompoop. And it wasn't as though the boy was deficient in masculine escapades of the sort that Nephrite particularly favored. Zoisite wasn't only popular for the ladies to look at - but he never made advances on them, it was usually the other way around - something Nephrite privately found simpering and ridiculous. Zosite often said that he "didn't care for engaging with ladies" except, as he went on to explain, "when his curiosity got the better of him."

Nephrite snorted. From the sly glances he sent the prettier women surrounding him, Nephrite knew that the little 'Angel' had more than a simple scientific interest in women. That was probably what irritated Nephrite the most. Zoisite, with his angelic face, his diffident air and quiet voice, could get away with things the devil himself would have been strung up for - and Nephrite never had a chance. Everytime Nephrite had ever attempted anything similar, he'd always been caught and reprimanded. Which was how he'd earned the reputation of a rebel and delinquent. He was the devil and Zoi the angel of their strange 'family' of brothers in arms, but the titles were more ironic than those courtiers who'd invented them could ever know.

A hand on his shoulder startled Nephrite from his thoughts.

"You seem to be performing guard duty very well tonight, " a silky voice murmured in his ear, "But I think you've picked the wrong target."

Nephrite didn't bother to turn his head. He knew the icy blue stare glinting through silver rimmed glasses that would greet him, the pale blond hair, also cut short in miliatary fashion mimicking the prince.

"I feel a chill," he complained, "Could you move a litte farther away?"

"Oh, please," Jadeite hissed, "I wouldn't want to dampen your smoldering fire. Are you trying to be romantically dramatic, or is it just a coincidence?"

Nephrite actually chuckled.

"It's all for show. It always is."

"Yes, it always is," Jade agreed.

They watched the prince move from group to group, conversing with each noble family, some of their own cousins, aunts, nephews. None of the four guardians had seen their families in years - the prince had been their family for nearly their entire lives.

"Where is old stone-face?"

"I believe he is with the king," Jade began, adjusting his glasses.

"Why do you wear those things?" Neph asked, "You look so much better with them off."

"Well, I wouldn't want to make you jealous, darling."

Nephrite punched Jadeite in the ribs, so quickly and deftly that the servant standing only five feet away never even noticed the movement.

Jadeite had anticipated the strike and had tightened his muscles, so the blow didn't hurt him at all.

"Temper, temper, my love," he joked, "Now be a good boy and watch the prince."

"Get out of my hair and I will," Neph grumbled. He attempted to trip Jadeite as the other man sauntered into the ball room, but all he got was a nimble avoidance and an evil grin over the shoulder.

"I hate that man," he muttered.

"What man?"

Nephrite whirled around to find his commanding officer and leader, a stern looking twenty-seven year old, standing directly behind him.

"Where did you -"

"Throne room."

"How -"

"You weren't paying attention. That's not what I taught you. And you aren't paying attention now. Look how close Jadeite is to the prince."

"Jadeite isn't an assassin."

"How do you know?" Kunzite counted, his silver eyebrows never wavering, his face showing no indication of whether he was being serious or sardonic.

Nephrite chose to assume Kunzite had a sense of humor, albeit a very sadistic one.

"Then I'd kill him with that vase." He pointed to the tall, blue china vase festooned with huge violently pink daisies.

"No good," Kunzite shook his head, "He'd hear it coming. Too large."

"Then I'd strangle him with the curtain cord."

Kunzite examined the cord in question, and shook his head. His silver hair, pulled back with a white satin ribbon into a spikey little bunch on the nape of his neck, made small, thin, straight tendrils fall forward around his face.

"No, take too long. You need to get to him sooner than that. Jadeite would already have killed the prince."

"Well, I don't know," Nephrite sighed in exasperation, "How should I get rid of Jadeite?"

"Inform Zoisite, he's sitting next to both of them."

Nephrite resisted the urge to slap his own forehead.

"I see," was all he said.

Kunzite's lips twitched.

"Well, I'm glad. I'm going to collect the Prince," he went on, "We've got something we need to do tonight, a reconnaissance mission, so don't make plans."

Of course Nephrite and Kunzite knew exactly what kind of plans he meant. That was something that was always understood between them. Nephrite secretly wondered, sometimes, if Kunzite had taken the religious vows that other men of his station sometimes did - he never drank, never swore, never initiated violence, and was always courteous to women. There would have been rumors, under the circumstances, about whether Kunzite was actually not interested in women at all...but it was Kunzite and everyone knew better than to start those kinds of rumors. Where Kunzite was concerned, it wouldn't have been wise, or healthy.

If Zoisite was the Angel, and himself the Devil, as Neph reflected, Kunzite was the Saint. And what did that leave the other two? He pondered for a moment, noticing the weariness the Prince tried to hide as he shook yet another hand.

The Prince was their Martyr. He thought the words softly, as if thinking them was bad luck. But it was true. Of all of them it was Endymion, in the end, who had to daily give up so much of his private life in order to fulfill his obligations and his father's expectations. And he always managed to live up to this impossible standard without loosing that lovely streak of mischeviousness that kept him from being turned into a living symbol of his father's power and legacy. But as Nephrite watched him he noted that the battle for Endymion's struggling self-assertion was losing ground each day. He worried over this because, though he loved the Prince, he had no idea of how to help him. It was a burden he didn't know how to carry, and a battle he didn't know how to fight. He meant to speak to Kunzite about it, but he never seemed to be able to find the right words.

Perhaps Jadeite would know. Despite their malicious banter, there was a very deep affection between the two. Their strengths and weaknesses were so complimentary that they naturally came together as friends and fighting partners, and Jadeite was the closest friend Nephrite possessed. He was a bastard, but he was also the man Nephrite respected the most. One, of course, couldn't respect Kunzite. One didn't respect Saints, one revered them.

"Our peacemaker," Nephrite murmured to himself, with a sardonic smile, "That's what Jade is."

God knew they needed one now more than ever.

* * *

On a dusty road overlooking the shining Golden City, five young women set foot down on the soil (which was actually gravel) of the Venusian capital - the City that Never Sleeps: Helen.

They were not dressed as princesses tonight, or as soldiers. Tonight they were dressed as young women their ages usually dressed; in short skirts, interesting boots or dangerous heels, scandalous blouses and flattering tops, sparkling jewelry, demure jackets, and bracelets that screamed 'get out of my way' - they were sixteen years old and life was completely theirs, tonight.

"Well, are you ready?" the golden blond leaned a slender arm around the shoulders of the silver-haired princess.

Selenity stood, for once not wearing either formal gowns or pajamas. Venus had dressed her to the nines, Venusian style. Her red skirt was very high, her long legs encased in mid-length boots with a slight heel, because as they all knew, the princess did not deal well with the heavier gravity of other worlds. It caused her to become extremely clumsy. She pulled, self-consciously, at the white, red and blue top that dipped a little lower than she might have liked.

"I guess so," she gulped, nervous but already so excited she could hardly wait. She had never been beyond the Moon in her life. It was her sixteenth birthday tonight, and she was going to the Universe's most scandoulous, most breathtaking, most insane city.

"You'll be fine," Venus grinned, her arm tightening protectively around the shorter girl, "We're gonna have a heck of time. Trust me. This is my city."

She motioned to the blaring lights, the signboards of unbelievably beautiful women dressed in diamonds or bubbles or chocolate.

"It looks like a brothel," came a clipped voice.

"Stuff it, Mars."

Mars shrugged. She would never have admitted it, but she was almost as excited as Selenity. She too had never been to Helen City, although her grandfather had proclaimed loudly all of its many evils and debaucheries since her infancy. All these warnings only served to make the city more dark and exciting. However, she tempered her excitement and plastered a bored and slightly superious expression on her porcelain face. Her dark red skirts, she noted, were only slightly near as high as Venus' or Selenity's and she'd insisted on wearing heels, despite Venus' attempts to get her to wear a ridiculous pair of platforms.

She looked up at Jupiter and gave a short sigh of relief. No matter what craziness Venus had in store for them, Mars knew she could always count on Jupiter to be on her side if it came to a fight. Jupiter adjusted her own short green skirt and fiddled with the boots she wore. Venus had convinced Jupiter, after strenuous argument, that wearing boots would make the most of her height, and that height was very attractive and not at all a bad thing. But though Jupiter looked like a knock-out ten years older than her fifteen year stint, she still had an aura of nervousness.

"I just don't want to lose my purse, " she kept saying, "Mother always talks about how bad theives are around here."

"You could just wallop whatever thieves we run across," Venus pointed out, "It's not like we're exactly defenseless, you know."

Jupiter acknowledged it was true. After two years of strict physical training, even Selenity wasn't that bad at self-defense. Jupiter had discovered a veritable talent for it, which distressed her, as she had strictly pacifist beliefs about violence and insisted that Artemis and Luna only teach her defensive moves. They were still trying to convince her of the uselessness of avoiding learning offensive attacks but as yet Jupiter had remained stubborn.

"This is most fascinating," came the quiet voice of Mercury.

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" Venus crowed, delighted.

"That grammar was -"

"It's alright, Mercury," Mars interrupted, "She knows. She's just acting like an idiot because she hasn't been home in two years."

Venus couldn't hear this as she was too busy dragging Jupiter and Selenity all over Paris Street on their way toward the Grand Concert Hall of Magellan Castle.

"She must have missed it very much," Mercury observed, stooping to adjust the knee-high boots she wore, almost identical to Selenity's except they were blue. Mars thought about reminding the not-quite-human girl that her skirts were shorter than usual and bending over like that wasn't exactly lady-like but the android seemed to have a problem keeping all that in mind whenever she was interested in something. And Helen City was certainly interesting enough for anyone.

"Yeah," Mars replied, watching Venus dancing, "I guess she did."

Tonight was a forbidden night, for all of them. And it was that very homesickness she'd seen in all their faces that had a last convinced Mars, the most stalwart of sticklers for rules, that the taboo of leaving the Moon and endangering their identities could be risked tonight. It was Selenity's sixteenth birthday - a special night for all of them - and it was the night that Venus' favorite band, the Starlights, was performing at her Castle. She hadn't seen her mother in two years. Mars knew how Venus felt. How they all felt.

And so they'd all agreed, for once, to sneak out together and go to the concert, to pretend to be normal girls for one glorious night.

Venus was already singing her favorite Starlight song as she skipped down the street, tugging Selenity, who was gasping at every shop window, along with her. Jupiter followed behind at a more sedate pace, but Mars could see her wonder at the immensity and glitter of Sin City already taking over.

Mars tugged gently at Mercury's little puff sleeve.

"Come on, or they'll leave us behind. You don't want to miss the show, do you?"

"I don't want to miss anything," Mercury replied, her voice steady as it always was. But Mars had learned in the last two years, when her discomfort with Mercury slowly grew to admiration and then to affection, to listen beyond the tone and hear the soul behind the things Mercury said. Mars wasn't quite sure how she felt about an android with a possible soul, but she knew her own beliefs were changing, little by little.

"Well, let's go!"

Mars grabbed Mercury's cool hand and they galloped down the crowded street to catch up with the others.

Above their heads a diamond billboard sang out "STARLIGHTS TONIGHT!" and the group's new hit song blasted from speakers thirty yards away. The glow of the moon could barely be seen - it was drowned by the glamour of Helen's shine.

"A night that lasts 160 Earth years," Mercury murmured to herself as she stared up at the images, "All that night and they never go to sleep."

"We can sleep when we're dead!" Venus laughed, her bright voice tinkling like the sound of bells.

They followed her into the Golden City.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Golden Age**

Chapter Ten

* * *

"Come on, Selenity!"

Venus shoved the other girl up through the ventilator shaft of Magellan Castle's open air concert hall. From inside the dusty shaft came muffled yelp.

"You never said we had to sneak in!"

"Yeah, Venus, why did that little bit of information slip your mind?"

Venus, hands on hips, let out a short, violent sigh.

"Look," she began, "My mother thinks I'm light years away, tucked safely in bed on the Moon. My kingdom thinks I've taken up an intensive foreign training program, and I'm not allowed off the Moon until the Queen decides Selenity's old enough - in other words do you really think I could walk up and buy tickets to this thing?"

"You could have told us!" Jupiter shouted.

The others clapped their hands over her mouth.

"Guys," a voice whined from inside the shaft, "It's icky in here."

Mars and Jupiter were suddenly confronted by the bright blue, disconcertingly frank gaze they knew very well. It was the same look Venus wore when she was about to become 'Sailor Venus' and pull rank on them.

"We're not going to live forever," she said, a hint of an edge in her voice; there was always an unexpected hardness underneath the golden glow.

"Let's live while we can!"

"Well, some of us will."

"What?"

Jupiter rolled her eyes and pointed, mutely, at the shaft, and then hitched her thumb back at Mercury, who was standing perfectly still examining the controls for the heating and air.

"Oh," Venus nodded, "Right. Well, you and me and Mars won't live forever, unless there's something I don't know about demons -"

"Daimons!"

"Whatever, well the three of us aren't going to live forever, and our two immortals should at least have some good memories to tell their great-great-great-great grandchildren."

Jupiter smacked her hand to her face and jerked Venus' face down to her own, barely exerting a smidgen of her strength to do it - the other girl had to brace her muscles to keep from falling on the floor. The taller girl just didn't know her own strength.

"Stop being so insensitive," Jupiter hissed.

"What did I say this time!?"

Jupiter pulled Venus' face until Mercury was in her sight, then pulled Venus back to Jupiter's no nonsense green stare.

"Grandchildren? Really, Venus?"

Jupiter let her go so fast she almost over balanced herself.

"Alright, alright! I get it. I'm sorry. Now can we please get on with it? I can hear the opening chords of -"

"Let's just go," Mars sighed, putting a hand on Jupiter's shoulder, "She'll never rest until we do. And the princess is still in the -"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Four heads snapped as one to stare at the opening of the shaft.

Mercury, in her calm, even voice, said, "Oh, dear."

* * *

"Wait, I think I didn't quite catch that last bit," Jadeite said, rubbing his eyes, his glasses in the other hand.

Kunzite took a better grip on his map and the file of reports.

"We are to infiltrate the Moon tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yes, Nephrite."

"But why tonight?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

The three turned toward the corner of the small, hidden chamber where Zoisite, legs crossed elegantly, seemed to be dabbling with some sort of hand-held electronic device. He looked up slowly, and when he caught their eyes his own twinkled oddly.

"Wipe that satisfied smirk off your face and just tell us."

"Well, if you must know," Zoisite began, running a hand through his hair, "Tonight is the Princess's sixteenth birthday, according to our sources there is to be a celebration tomorrow morning to commemorate the occasion."

"So?" Nephrite frowned, slumping back into his chair with the same sulking expression he'd worn as a child.

"So, tonight," the other replied, slowly, "The security will be slightly...distracted, in preparations for tomorrow. Everyone will be concentrating on the Princess's big day - including the Queen, who, by all accounts, loves her daughter to distraction. Which is precisely what we want."

"Yes, and according to rumor the Moon princess and her mother are the most beautiful women in the universe and they look nearly identical, and the Martians spit fire out of their eyes and the Venusians walk around with no clothes on." Jadeite mentioned, in a bored voice.

"No clothes?" Nephrite sat up in his chair.

Jadeite rolled his eyes.

"Rumors, Neph."

"Indeed," Kunzite nodded, tapping the files on the table, "But useful, none-the-less. You've been briefed, so I'll give you twenty minutes to change and ready yourselves."

Without breaking stride or speech, he wrenched the door open and neatly put the snooper behind it in a headlock, all before Jadeite, Nephrite or Zoisite could stand.

"Oh, your highness. Excuse me."

Kunzite unceremoniously dropped the young prince to the floor. Endymion pushed himself to his knees, rubbing his neck with one hand and coughing.

"Killing the heir to the throne would be a bad move, don't you think, Kunzite?" Jadeite asked as he knelt beside the prince.

Of course Kunzite didn't answer. No one would have expected him to. He was already gone from the room to do goodness only knew what before they left. And despite the prince's condition and the interruption, he would still expect them to be ready in twenty-minutes. Eighteen now.

"What were you doing behind the door, Endymion?"

"Or do we need to ask?"

The prince gazed up at them from the floor, his usually grim expression replaced by one of anger.

"You're going to go to the Moon."

It was an accusation.

Jadeite sighed.

"You know you can't come."

"Kunzite would never let you come with us, Endymion," Nephrite said, giving the prince his hand and jerking the slighter man to his feet in one graceful motion.

"I don't care what Kunzite says," the young prince declared, his tone gone as steely as his blue eyes.

There was no arguing with him when he was in this mood, and they knew it. But they were still required to waste precious minutes doing just that.

"Sire, your father would be furious."

"My father doesn't have to know."

"It's not feasible," Zoisite pointed out, "We've prepared for years for this operation. We've all created aliases and done formal training in going undercover as -"

"I have learned everything you have," Endymion interrupted, pinning them each with his intense gaze, "Everything. I'm as good a fighter as Nephrite -"

"Sire, it isn't just fighting -"

"And a better actor than any of you, even Jadeite -"

"Well, that's debatable -"

"And," he paused, his cheeks flushing just slightly, "I will not be the kind of man that stands by and lets others do his work for him."

There was an awkward silence after this last declaration. Everyone avoided Endymion's eyes - after all, it was only the truth.

"Sire, Kunzite will -"

"Don't tell him," Endymion whispered, catching all their eyes with his own once more - this time there was an excited little glimmer in their depths.

"You'll be using the new teleporter, correct?"

"It's still in the experimental phases," Zoisite frowned, "I really don't think it ought to be used at all, but -"

"It's simple then," the prince continued, starting to help them with their preparations - picking up the blue-prints of the palace and glancing over them - memorizing them.

"You'll all go according to the plan, then I'll come after you. I only want to keep an eye on you. -"

"And Kunzite -" Jadeite began.

"And Kunzite, if he finds me, will think that I followed you on my own. So no one gets into trouble."

They stared at him for a long moment, each man struggling.

"It's not really a safe way to travel," Zosite began with a long sigh.

"And we will have to keep an eye on you," Nephrite added, frowning down at the prince.

"But you're going to come anyway, so," Jadeite finished, holding out a box and a stack of papers.

Endymion never really smiled, at least not when any other living being was present, but his eyes lightened for a moment. Some of the perpetual strain seemed momentarily gone.

"What are these?"

He lifted the lid and prodded the strange garments inside.

"They're custom Mercurian dress, " Jadeite replied with the beginnings of a sly smile, "So I hope you don't get warm easily."

Endymion held up a pair of silver-grey men's pants and a long sleeved black shirt with a high collar.

"Am I to be dressed as a Mercurian peasant?" he asked, holding up a pair of thong-sandals with dismay.

"Just put them on."

"What on Earth are you wearing!?" The prince exclaimed, catching sight of Zoisite in skin-tight denim, a pair of suspenders and white scarf - no shirt. He let down his long hair and smoothed it.

"Just like a normal Venusian, " Zoisite explained, "This is how they dress. Less is more is a Venusian saying, you know."

"Apparently," the prince muttered.

"Just be grateful you don't have to be Martian for the night," Nephrite said, tugging on a jacket.

"Are you possibly wearing a skirt?" Endymion nearly choked out.

"It's not a skirt," Nephrite growled. The pleated red and black material hit just below his knees, showing his muscular legs, encased in low boots.

"Somehow, even in a skirt -"

"It's NOT a skirt!"

"He manages to look even more intimidating, don't you think, sire?"

Endymion's lips twitched as he caught Jadeite's wink.

Jadeite shrugged, pulling on a comfortable sweater with a hole in it. His normal looking pants were baggy and well-worn; he placed his fake glasses on his nose and smoothed his short hair over to one side with some grease.

"That's quite shabby," Endymion noted, fiddling with the zipper on the collar of his shirt.

"Jovians tend to dress down. They're a very relaxed society and they don't believe in ostentation."

"The homier the better," Zoisite nodded, opening a tin of glitter make-up.

Endymion began to grow pale.

"I don't have to wear that, do I?"

Zoisite grinned at his own reflection, evilly.

"Here," Jadeite thrust a case into the prince's hand.

"What are these?"

He slipped a pair of dark blue glasses out of a silver tube.

"Mercurians are usually intelligent, at least if you have these no one will ask you any questions."

"If they do," Zoisite said, "Let me answer them."

"I'm not an idiot, you know."

"Compared to a Mercurian scientist, we're all amoebas in the primordial ooze."

"What is Kunzite going to be?"

"With that hair?" Jadeite retorted, straightening his tie, "A Lunarian, of course."

"What did you think the tux was for?"

Endymion shook his head and slipped the dark glasses onto his nose.

The world suddenly looked very blue - a sort of deep indigo. He imagined it was what life looked like through the cell of a violet.

"He'll be here in five minutes," Nephrite warned, watching the door.

"Sire, if you really want to do this -"

"I do -"

"Then give us ten minutes before you step into the teleporter," Zoisite finished.

"And pray that it actually delivers us on the Moon instead of disintegrating our bodies into dust particles."

The others turned a little paler.

"Well, are we ready?"

Jadeite smiled grimly at his studious and homely reflection.

"As ready as we'll ever be."

The men filed out into the hallway and Endymion left through the window so that he could track them in the dark from a safe distance. In the night sky he watched the moon revolving above the Earth.

He allowed himself a small smile of anticipation.

* * *

"Are you nervous?"

Neptune reached out to clasp Uranus' long, tapered fingers in her own. Through their palms she could feel the other girl's heart beating in a slow, steady rhythm. She felt a sudden longing to feel that same heart beat through her chest - to feel their hearts next to each other.

In the darkness, she blushed, thankful that Uranus couldn't see her. She berated herself for the thoughts that seemed to crop up constantly - especially in the last year. There were thoughts she had, feelings, toward Uranus, that she'd never felt before - not even for the swains that vied for her hand now that she was eighteen, heart-achingly beautiful, and of marriageable age. These feelings - since she'd turned seventeen and realized that the way her heart leaped into her throat when she saw her old friend enter the room wasn't the simplicity of sisterhood friendship. Ever since Uranus had started to pull away from her - had started to involve herself in wild and reckless activities - interstellar star races, cliff-diving on Jupiter, storm chasing - would it never end? And all the time Neptune couldn't help but feel bewildered and painfully confused. Uranus would never tell her anything anymore. Was it because she suspected those feelings? If so, was she disgusted?

But now they were forced to interact in a place where Uranus couldn't stalk off or run away every time her strange moods came on.

They were about to perform on stage for the Lunar Concert - it would be tomorrow, but for now they were practicing on the planet, Jupiter. They would arrive for the princess' birthday tomorrow morning. Their first visit to the Moon.

"I'm not. Are you?"

Uranus' voice had matured to a husky, low timbre - her sharp profile was handsome in the half light of the spot.

Neptune, following another sudden urge, put her hand on one side of the other woman's face and drew her gaze down to Neptune's own. Looking into Uranus's deep blue eyes, Neptune put both hands on her shoulders, raised herself, and kissed Uranus lightly on the lips.

It was the quickest of kisses, like a butterfly's wing brushing a flower petal. Almost negligent. An after thought.

Neptune didn't know why she'd done it. Perhaps, she thought, as her adrenaline level lowered and her heart started to beat normally, this was how Uranus felt when she looked over the edge of a cliff, or rounded a curve at high speeds.

Uranus stared down at her - her expression unreadable. Neptune felt a trickle of dread deep in her belly. Uranus knew. And she wasn't happy about it. Neptune swallowed hard - she wasn't going to cry. Not now.

"For luck," she explained, in a light, careless voice. Then she walked past Uranus to the front of the stage where her long, silver metal cello sat waiting for her beside the carved ivory spinet.

Behind her, Uranus unclenched her fists slowly, her palms slightly bruised by the pressure. She let out a low sigh and closed her eyes shut, tight. She tried at once to block out every thought of Neptune's lips, and at the same time to taste and memorize the feel of her kiss. She needed to disappear, and forget herself and this twisted, impossible love. She needed a fast car. A high cliff. A dangerous storm. She needed...a drink.

There were no bars open on Jupiter past this hour of night. Damn. Neptune didn't know that she drank, sometimes a little too much. She hoped Neptune didn't know.

Outside, another storm began its silent assault on the un-stained, stolid wood of the beautiful old auditorium.

* * *

Kunzite steadied himself with a hand on Jadeite's shoulders as he materialized on the slick street, his glistening black shoes and tuxedo not offering much range of movement. He would need to adjust that immediately.

He blinked. The glare of the streets was far brighter than what he'd been led to believe about the Moon.

"Zoisite?"

Jadeite's voice came drifting over the sounds of some strange kind of music in the distance.

"Yes?"

"Are there supposed to be moving, glowing portraits of almost naked women on the buildings?"

From behind them all, Zoisite's clear, precise voice rang out in beautifully clipped syllables, cutting through the thick, warm night air:

"Shit."

Nephrite straightened from being sick - an apparent side-effect of space travel. He wiped his mouth with a wet napkin and opened a small bottle of scented peppermint water.

"Where the hell are we?" he rasped.

Kunzite turned to look at his youngest soldier with an air of calm expectancy.

Zosite looked around him in one long survey of the glowing, glittering city, then ran a hand through his hair and answered:

"Venus?"

Kunzite closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. The air smelt like sweet perfume and human sweat - an odd, not altogether off-setting arouma.

"How soon can we get back?"

Zoisite fiddled with his little silver box.

"It will take another five hours before the transporter is ready to send us back to Earth. Providing, of course, that it actually works better than it did this time."

"At least we aren't dust, " Jadeite muttered. He eyed the other two - they were all thinking about the prince. Would he make it to the Moon to discover he was alone? Would he end up on Venus? Would he arrive at all?

"Maybe it won't work," Nephrite mouthed when Kunzite's back was turned.

"Fat chance," Zoisite muttered.

Kunzite began walking down the street.

"Where are you going?" Jadeite called, the rest of them running to catch up. Strangely, there were no people on the street.

"Five hours, right?" Kunzite asked.

"Better make the most of the opportunity."

He put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and continued walking down the streets of Helen, Venus as if he'd walked them his entire life.

The others did what they always did: tried to keep up with him.


	11. Chapter 12

The Golden Age

Chapter 12

* * *

Endymion cursed under his breath as his shin collided with something cold and hard.

He put out his hands and felt a smooth marble surface, chiseled to a sharp corner.

"Who are you?"

He froze. The voice was female; soft like a wind-chime. He reached for his sword and remembered belatedly that he'd left it on Earth.

He spun around, ready to defend himself, but in the shadows all he could make out was the dim form of a woman with long, softly shinning hair. Her features were shaded by the light of the Earth behind her, but if her form and voice were anything to judge from, she was unmistakably beautiful.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

"No one."

Her laughter tinkled like the tintinnabulation of bells.

"Well, No One, what are you doing in the gardens so late at night? Without a light. You must know that's the best way to injure yourself. I've done it many times."

"I -" Endymion closed his mouth. He was completely dumbfounded. She had found a strange man in her path at night and yet she had no fear. There was a regal tone to her voice - a voice used to command - that he recognized at once. His mother's voice had been very similar.

"No matter," she interrupted, "If you'd like me to show you the way out -"

"No!"

He recoiled from her hand. Shaking himself in an effort to break the spell of her voice, he recalled all the stories he'd heard - his bedtime stories, practically - of the arcane powers of the Moon people. This woman must be a very powerful witch indeed.

"Let me go."

The woman seemed surprised.

"Why, I'm not holding you!" she answered, "You seem lost. If you know your own way back to the Mercurian suits, then -"

"Wait."

Despite his fear, he wasn't sure where he was. If he was careful perhaps he could use her to help him find his way home.

"I - you must promise no harm to me. You must swear it now."

The woman stared at him - even in the darkness he could tell she must be frowning.

"Alright. I swear no harm will come to you that is within my power to prevent. Will you come with me?"

"I can't."

"Oh, for Earth's sake, whyever not?" she gave an exasperated sigh and he felt his lips twitch with the urge to smile.

"I'm not a Mercurian," he began carefully.

"I see."

"I'm...I'm actually from..."

"Earth." she finished for him.

"Yes, but how did you -"

"There is something about you - your bluntness perhaps - now that I see you in the light," she paused, reading his face by the light of the garden lamp.

"Yes, you are from Earth. And, if I am not mistaken, of the royal line?"

Endymion stiffened.

"How did you know that?" he growled, "Are you able to read minds?"

The woman laughed again.

"I wish I could, young man," she said, stepping into the soft glow so that he could see her.

Involuntarily he gave a small gasp. She was lovelier than he could have ever imagined. Her fair white hair, almost silver, hung in long tendrils down her back to the ground. Her figure was graceful and petite, her face heart-shaped with that strange wide-eyed look characteristic of Lunarians. Her blue eyes were large, tranquil, and sparklingly clear.

She looked, he guessed, to be about his own age.

"Who are you?" The question passed his lips before he realized he'd spoken.

"I am Selenity, I'm the Queen here. And who are you, young Earth person? And why are you wandering around my gardens?"

"You're the Queen?"

His face went white. If she knew who he was (as she no doubt could tell from her strange powers) then he was as good as dead. His comrades would never know what had become of him - and his father would have them executed without question.

She frowned again.

"Young man, you seem to be troubled. If you will tell me a little of your story, I'm sure I can -"

"Please," he said, kneeling slowly in front of her, "Please. I don't ask it for my sake, but for the sake of those dearer to me than my own flesh and blood, please have mercy. Let me go back to Earth. I will not carry any of your secrets with me."

The queen watched him in bewildered wonder, then suddenly she snapped her fingers. It startled him.

"Astarte, that's who you remind me of," she said.

"W-who? I beg your pardon."

"Oh, you never met her," the Queen continued, waving her hand, "She died three centuries before you were born, I'm sure. You can't be more than...twenty?"

Endymion gulped.

"You are - you....are you a witch?"

"Hardly! Though my daughter might disagree from time to time. Now let me guess, you are one of the royal family? You look just like someone I once knew, quite a long time ago."

"When you knew Astarte?"

"Oh, much longer than that."

He wondered at her sad smile. But she soon dispelled it with a laugh.

"How did you manage to get here I wonder? The borders between Earth and the Moon have been all but closed for the past thirty years."

"I - we - there is a - it was an accident." he finished lamely.

"I see." Her face and tone clearly implied skepticism.

"Why are you not - I was told that, I was given to believe that the hostility between the Earth and the Moon was such that -"

"You have only heard one side of the story apparently," she answered, ruefully, "I don't know what they teach you on Earth, but the Moon has no desire for the continuance of this uneasiness between our planets. But since communication was broken off, we have been left in the dark as to what the Earth's plans are concerning anything - especially foreign policy."

Endymion regarded her with suspicion, but he found it difficult to doubt her words. Even if they were false, she certainly believed herself to be telling the truth.

"Your ministers, perhaps, think differently?" he suggested.

The Queen pursed her lips at him.

"I have no ministers, and if I did, I'm sure they would not think differently."

"No ministers? You govern the entire planet?! But what about your principalities, your under-lords, how can you govern an entire people without -"

"My entire people consists of one hundred Lunarians total, including myself and my daughter. There are no others."

"How...how can that be?"

Endymion steadied himself by grasping the nearby column. His head was spinning. One hundred Lunarians? How could such a force ever prove to be the threat his father had stated? - but -

"As you've probably already deduced, Lunarians live a very long time," the Queen explained, "we hardly ever procreate, and as a result only one or two new Lunarians are born in a century. Our lives span millennia, if we do not grow ill or fade prematurely."

"You are not mortal?"

"Of course I'm mortal," the Queen countered rather sharply, "But not everything mortal lives by the same time span as yourselves. That is something I will never understand about humans, you know -you all think everything must be just like -"

"But your powers," he broke in, wildly, "Your abilities to control others' minds - haven't you enslaved the rest of the universe to do your bidding? Haven't you set up the monsters on Mars as your black sorcerer guards - the Jovians as your elite army with their supernatural strength? The Mercurians as your dark alchemists?"

"Enough!"

The Queen's words echoed through the garden and broke the stillness of the night.

"I would prefer not to hear any more ridiculous, offensive language from you, young man, royalty or no."

Endymion bowed his head. It was all too much to take in. He started when he felt a cool finger tip his face up. Her hand, he realized, felt like any other hand - soft, smooth - like human skin. She was flesh and blood, no matter what kind of blood. He breathed out a sigh.

"Listen to me, young one," the Queen said, softly, "You have been living your life scared of nothing more than scary stories. Let me show you something."

Without looking back she led him to a fountain in the center of the garden, the drops cascading down in perfectly shaped, uniform spheres in a flawless rhythm.

"The Mercurians, the dark alchemists as you call them, invented this fountain - it took twenty years to build. The design is so simple and yet so complicated that to disturb even one drop would cause the entire structure to collapse - and yet you see how beautiful it is. The Mercurians are scientists, artists, and their work deserves to be respected and admired, not slandered."

Endymion continued to gaze at the fountain, even as the Queen pointed toward a large red flower as big as his head.

"This is a Jovian Anemone, grown in the hothouses of the current Queen herself and given to me on the occasion of my daughter's birth sixteen years ago. See the petals - how firm and yet delicate they are - and the fragrance."

He sniffed and was able to detect the heady, rich perfume.

"This is what the Jovians spend their time cultivating, not war. It has been six centuries since the last war on Jupiter - ten since its last interplanetary skirmish. The Jovians fought hard for peace and now that they have attained it they have set up a new government that is entirely pacifist. Their formal armies are disbanded, they have destroyed all weapons, and the only martial arts remaining are those that train in defense."

Endymion felt his cheeks flush the same crimson as the Anemone. The Queen's tone of rebuke was gentle but he felt it like a sharp stab.

"And this chime, hanging there on that column, was left by the Martian priest who blessed this garden for me when I finally completed it."

"You designed this?"

"It's my hobby," she replied, "And it was an honor to have it blessed by such a holy man."

"So you see," she finished, turning to him, "You have nothing to fear. We could not martial strength against you, even if we wanted to."

"Don't you fear us then," he asked, quietly, turning to look at the Earth as it floated through the midnight sky.

"Aren't you afraid of our power - for unlike you we do not spend years planting flowers or building fountains - we are strong and fierce."

"And we admire you for your strength," she smiled, "We even love you for it."

He heard more in her tone than perhaps she meant for him to. He closed his eyes briefly - he wanted to remember this - her beauty, the garden, the sound of the fountain and the chimes, the smell of the Anemones.

"Are you ready to return?"

"Yes."

"Then, young man, close your eyes and don't be afraid."

Endymion took a step back as she raised her hand.

"Trust me."

Her eyes, sad and older than anything he'd ever seen, pleaded with him. He stopped.

Finally he nodded.

"Wherever it is that you want to be, close your eyes and think of it - and, young man, remember, will you? What you have seen tonight?"

He swallowed. He knew he would never forget it.

"Thank you," he whispered, but he didn't think she could hear him - he was already disappearing in a fall of soft, shimmering moonlight.

And then, before he could take his next breath, he was standing in the hallway outside his own room.

He looked at his hands and pinched himself to be sure. And when he raised a hand to his face he could still smell the flowers.


	12. Chapter 11

**The Golden Kingdom**

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Queen Selenity sat like the statue of her patron goddess on her pale, alabaster throne. Before her stood five young women, a bit the worse for wear.

The Queen watched them all with her crystal blue, super nova eyes. She took a deep breath and five heads snapped up. But before she could utter a word, a long, outraged yowl echoed down the ivory hall. All eyes turned to find the irate, and beyond irate, Luna stalking toward the small group with Artemis trailing behind her.

"Where are they?"

"Now, Luna -"

"Don't 'now Luna' me," Luna spat, hissing at Artemis and taking a swing at him as he leaped quickly out of her range with deft feline agility.

"Will someone PLEASE explain to me how the five of you," she growled, turing to the five cowering girls, "managed to sneak out of the palace at night - and WHY on EARTH -"

"Luna, please -"

"Will you let me finish!?"

"Ah - "

The last syllable of Luna's scream bounced off the walls of the throne room and descended into a palpable silence.

The Queen cleared her throat.

"Does anyone have an explanation?" she asked, calmly.

"Mom -" Selenity gulped, "It-it was my fault -"

"Selenity -" Venus started.

"No," Selenity put her hand out, still trying to control her convulsive hiccuping breaths, "Let me - tell her."

Selenity's clear, blue eyes met the peerless crystal of her mother's.

"This is how it happened," she began.

***********

Selenity had been excited. Well, she still was, kind of. But being inside the ventilation shaft was icky and gross. It smelled bad, for one thing, and the dust was staining her borrowed top, which she would never have worn in front of her mother, but which she thought was really too cute for words (and she knew she looked good in it!) So it was exciting...but still icky.

But it was Venus' idea to sneak in, which was kind of wrong, but Selenity was the princess and the leader (and she secretly worshiped the ground Venus walked on because the girl could do no wrong in her eyes) so they were sneaking in. And it was uber cool. Until, that is, the ventilation shaft above the stage was suddenly no longer there under Selenity's (negligible) weight - (it must have been very rusty and weak!) - and she was plummeting with absolutely no warning toward the stage floor.

OOf. Well, it had hurt. But not nearly as much as she'd expected. Was she dead?

There was a chuckle above her.

"You're not dead, sweetheart."

Selenity, opening her eyes, then beheld the most beautiful man in the world. Correction, universe.

"Wow. Are you an angel?"

He laughed, and she noticed that when he laughed his blue eyes crinkled up and his black hair swayed over his eyes in a really dreamy way. She felt herself blushing. Wait. Why was she not standing? She looked down. She was floating? No. He was -

"If one of us is an angel," he answered, setting her gently on her feet as if she weighed no more than a feather (which she didn't! not much, anyway....),"It's probably the one who fell from the sky. Don't you think?"

"I'm no angel!" She managed to laugh. She heard an echo, like a big wave. She turned to see what it was (tearing her eyes away from this gorgeous, gorgeous man!!!) and found....a sea...of people.

Staring at her.

"Ye gods," she whimpered.

Behind her, the musician chuckled deeply.

"It's alright kitten, but," he smirked as he took her hands, "What's your name?"

"Oh, uh -"

"Such a pretty angel must have a pretty name."

"Oh!"

She blushed even harder. The crowd cheered at the spectacle.

"S-Selenity." she murmured breathlessly, "The second."

They leaned closer, his eyes so large and beautiful; their lips came closer - the moment was magic -

**********

"Are you a complete moron, Selenity!?" Mars cried, "That does not even remotely resemble anything that happened!"

Luna, Artemis and the Queen stared back and forth from the dreamy-eyed Selenity to an outraged Mars.

"What do you mean?" The light began to fade from Selenity's eyes.

"I mean that you must have hit your head on the way down from that shaft, because your recapitulation of the events of tonight are not even close to -"

"Why don't you enlighten us then, Mars," Artemis suggested.

***********

Mars was seriously, seriously displeased. They were in a terribly dangerous and ridiculous situation; exactly the kind of situation she loathed.

A loud wail had just announced the descent of the Moon princess onto the stage.

After a heart-stopping moment of being sure the princess was smashed to pieces, Mars was shocked to find the lead singer of the Starlights cradling the princess in his unworthy arms.

This was wrong no matter how you considered it - yes, she was glad he's saved the girl, but he could not be allowed to continue holding her in that rapacious manner. Something had to be done!

Mars leapt to the stage with the poise of a warrior-goddess. The singers, men, all of them, startled back out of her way. They recognized a higher being when they saw her.

Selenity had just grabbed the microphone away from her startled rescuer and was proceeding to garble out ridiculous things to the crowd. Well, not for long. Not if Mars had anything to do with it. She was striding confidently toward the princess when she noticed the other two singers approaching her in what might be considered to be a threatening manner. Without waiting to check, she quickly knocked them both to the ground, and reached out for Selenity's hand. But she got the mic instead. Selenity had the audacity to get mad at her. What was the girl thinking? Honestly!

"We're going home," Mars hissed.

"But -"

"No buts!"

Mars gripped Selenity's skinny wrist - it was for the girl's own good. Like a floating lotus blossom, she turned to lead Selenity off the stage - like a gracious milk-maid with a prize cow -

***********

"How dare you call me a cow!?"

"Did you or did you not trip over your own feet and nearly face-dive off of the stage!?"

"Ok, well, that did happen," Selenity admitted, "But it still wasn't -"

"Your majesty," Venus jumped in, noting the increasingly darkening looks between Luna, Artemis and the Queen.

"I can explain it all to your satisfaction.".

"You certainly can't do any worse," Luna muttered.

Selenity and Mars blushed.

Venus smiled tightly and took a breath.

**********

Venus had seen Selenity fall and Star Fighter catch her.

"Well, that was close," she muttered. She edged along the shaft, and saw Mars poised to jump, hackles raised at the sight of Fighter holding the princess.

"Wait -"

Mars waited for no one and nothing; without a backward glance she jumped to the ground. Venus watched her blanche in pain as her feet connected with the hard floor.

Venus winced.

"Told you to bend your knees," she murmured to herself, shaking her head.

"Like this -"

Venus cracked her neck experimentally, then with the athleticism of a gymnast (which she was) she did a sommersault off the ventilation shaft, flipped once, tucked and landed, knees bent to absorb the impact correctly, in the middle of the sage.

The crowd went wild. Of course.

Wasting no time, she stepped over the prone bodies of Healer and Maker, making a mental note to have a talk with Mars about the virtues of asking questions first before shooting, and grabbed the microphone from the squabbling girls.

"Hello, folks," she began, flashing that trademark smile at the immense crowd oogling the stage.

"Sorry to drop in on you all like this," she went on, "But when we heard that the universe's brightest city was hosting the Starlights," at this there was thunderous applause, (she had them now), "I said to the girls, 'we simply must be there.' And sure enough, there's no place like home."

The crowd errupted into cheers, shouts and hoots of various sizes.

"That's right, you crazy, wonderful city of Lovers!" she yelled, laughing, "So, now, for a special treat, you're all gonna hear, for the first time in person, the talent of the universe's planetary princesses!"

She took a short pause while the crowd ate it up to glance over her shoulder. Selenity's eyes were as large as saucers.

"We're gonna sing?" she whimpered.

Mars' eyes were deadly.

"There's no way in heaven or hell -" she began.

"Suit yourself, but if you have a better cover story, please -" Venus tossed back, then turned and switched the smile on again.

"That's right, Helen! Bigger than life and twice as sassy!!! Now, hit it!"

Venus gripped the microphone and whipped her hair over her shoulder. The crowd loved it. She smiled, gave a little wink as she sang the first long note - then started to sway her hips. It was all coming back to her - the lights, the glamour, the passionate worship of the crowd as she held them spellbound in her palm - the glitter and guts of the Venusian blood pounding as she blew the crowd away - it was tantric - it was electric - it was -

*********

"Oh, my gods," Artemis groaned, "Stop. Just stop. Now."

Queen Selenity was massaging her temples with her eyes closed.

Venus lowered her arms and glared at her mentor with undisguised pique.

"It was the best concert I've ever done," she insisted, huffing.

"Jupiter," the Queen began, keeping her eyes closed,"Can you please -"

"Yes, for the love of Isis," Luna interjected.

Jupiter looked from one adult to the other, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"Well," she began gruffly, "I'll be honest. Just listening to them, I'm so mixed up now that I don't know what happened anymore -"

"Just," Artemis interrupted, "Try. Please."

Jupiter gave a long suffering sigh.

********

With a large grunt and a heave, Jupiter just kicked through the side of the shaft and wrenched her way out of it. It was broken anyway so it wasn't like they'd have to fix it especially because of her.

This was the last time she was going to let Venus-Ants-in-my-pants talk her into doing something so dumb!

She landed easily but accidentally stepped on one of the singers that Mars had knocked out. She noted that they were both pretty cute, and pondered briefly over whether she could possibly get their numbers later, but then Venus had, at that moment, and for some reason completely beyond Jupiter, started to sing. But if the original singer was hiding in the wings and the musicians were out cold - who was playing the piano?

Jupiter stood with hands on hips, surveying the crowd, trying to figure out what to do about it all. But that was a mistake. As soon as she saw how big the structure really was and how many faces were staring at her, she suddenly couldn't move. She was petrified.

'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" she thought, trying to make herself take deep breaths and failing utterly. All those people. Looking at her. She felt the blood leaving her face.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Selenity tripping over....nothing, apparently...and before Mars could catch her, she disappeared into the crowd. Venus was so caught up in singing that she didn't see Selenity fall, but Mars looked like she was about to wade into the crowd with an attack.

"Someone might get hurt!" Jupiter found herself crying out, suddenly able to move.

She stumbled toward Mars and then discovered that Selenity had been caught by a man in the crowd, quite close to the stage (somehow he'd managed to get past the vigiliant guard). He looked Lunarian - his hair an odd shade of white. Or maybe he was old. She got closer. Well, if he was old, he was hot. That was for sure -

Jupiter didn't have time for all that - she needed to get them all out of there. Didn't they realize how embarrassing this all was!? Especially in front of cameras and live broadcast. Her parents might be watching, for Isis' sake!

She clambered into the sea of bodies and grabbed Selenity from the nice white-haired man.

"Thanks!" She mumbled.

Whether he heard her or not, he smiled. An amused, little tid bit of a smile.

Jupiter felt a shiver. But what kind of shiver, she didn't know. And that was when the inter-galactic police arrived and she had to kick the microphone away from Venus to get her to -

***********

"That's an exaggeration!" Venus piped up, "She did not have to 'kick' it away from me!"

"Yes, I did," Jupiter insisted, "You were so far into your song that you -"

"I saw everything that was going on! I was multitasking!"

"Doesn't seem like it works very well, if you ask me."

"As interesting and informative as all of this is," Artemis replied, sighing, "I think we should just ask Mercury to give us the facts."

"We should have done that in the first place," Luna sourly observed, "Since the rest of these ninnies seem incapable of getting their facts right -"

"Hey, I told you what happened," Jupiter rebuffed, a bit put out.

"Mercury?" the Queen asked, with becoming patience.

Mercury stepped forward and nodded her head with a smile.

"My pleasure, your majesty," she started, "I would have been only too glad to inform Venus, the progenitor of this evening's festivities, that the ventilation shaft, designed as it was to transport air, was incapable of supporting the combined weight of all of us. However, as I predicted, it was only ten minutes after we stepped foot into the shaft that the princess fell and was caught by the lead singer, who was in fact female and posing as male -"

"Wait, what!?" Selenity and Mars chorused together in shock, dismay and disbelief.

"What, you didn't know?" Venus asked the two. They stared at her.

"You said you have a crush on them," Selenity accused.

Venus shrugged.

"I like their male alter egos. Male or female, what does it matter?"

"Depends on who you ask and when you ask them," Jupiter commented, matter-of-factly.

"Please continue, Mercury," the Queen managed to say.

"After the princess had fought with Mars, Venus took their microphone with the clear intention of singing. As the original musicians were indisposed at the moment due to Mars' preemptive attack, I sat down at the grand electric piano and began to play the song that Venus had stated was her favorite. Fortunately I had recently learned piano and so the song was not difficult to play. As I played, I scanned the audience for signs of enemies, but finding only four Terran men at the concert -"

"Wait!" Artemis yelped, "There were Terrans!?"

"Indeed," Mercury replied, "They were disguised. One of them caught the princess when she fell off stage."

"That hot white haired guy was a Terran?" Jupiter asked, "He didn't look like a barbarian."

"That's really not nice to say," Venus commented.

"Oh, sorry."

"Wait," Artemis stuttered on, "Wait. Just. Ok. So not only does the entire galaxy think the princesses, who are supposed to be studying abroad on the Moon, are gallivanting around and crashing concerts, but now there are Terrans who know who you all are?"

"Cripes."

"This is bad," Artemis hung his head, "This is really bad."

"Why?" Venus countered, "It's just a couple of Terrans."

"Two couples," Mercury added.

"Whatever," Venus replied, "My point is that it's not that big of a deal. No one will know that we're also Senshi. So that oh so precious cover isn't blown yet."

"Yet being the operative word," Artemis retorted, "And at the rate you're going it won't take long for that to get out too."

"All of you should be put under house-arrest for the remainder of your training," Luna demanded, "The idea. Waltzing off as though you weren't responsible for the lives of so many people. Just selfishly thinking of your own pleasure -"

"But we just wanted to have a little fun!" Venus exclaimed, "What's wrong with that!? We're all teenagers!"

"You're all princesses and soldiers, and doubly responsible for the galaxy and her people."

They all fell silent before the Queen. She gazed at them in a disapproving silence.

"I am disappointed," she sighed, at last,"I understand that it isn't easy to commit your young lives to this fate. But you swore, you promised me, that you would take this burden seriously. I feel that you are in danger of betraying your charges, and the people who depend on you..."

"I'm sure," she finished, looking at all of them, "That in your hearts you are sincere in committing to your roles. But sincerity isn't enough. You are no longer children."

Her face was sad as she said it.

"You have a very heavy task, and should the moment ever come, I pray that it never will, but if it does, you must, you _must_ be ready. You must put aside thoughts of childhood play. It's too late for that now."

She watched them all a moment more. Then with a wave she dismissed them.

"Selenity, stay."

The four girls bowed low in silence, then left, one by one, padding softly down the hall, not looking, let alone, speaking to one another. When they finally exited, the Queen's face grew a bit grimmer.

"I must be hard, Selenity. You understand why I am most displeased with you?"

Selenity nodded.

"I," she said, her voice losing almost all of it's lightness, "I am their leader and their charge. A difficult double position."

"A difficult double position," her mother echoed, nodding, "And you must remember to listen to them, to lead them by example and encouragement, and to give way to the needs of all rather than your own. That is what it means to be a ruler."

"Yes, mother."

The Queen's face softened. She reached out a hand and stroked her daughter's hair. A small tear ran down Selenity's cheek, but her mother did not reach out to wipe it. Selenity wiped it off herself, taking a deep breath.

"I will not disappoint you again."

"You never do," the Queen answered, smiling slightly.

Selenity nodded, giving her mother a small smile.

"Go on," her mother pushed her gently away.

Selenity turned, sending a last searching look at Luna's strict face. Luna, against her wishes, felt her frown soften.

Selenity left the hall.

"Well, what a mess." Artemis slumped in the smaller chair close to the dais.

"What will we do with them? They aren't anything even resembling a team."

The Queen walked to the window to gaze out at the Sea of Serenity in the glittering sunlight against the blue of the artificially created sky.

"It did take a certain amount of team work to get themselves out of that situation," she observed, wryly, "They did escape the police while managing to make the whole fiasco appear to be a publicity stunt."

"Well, if the Starlights hadn't been so understanding, we never would have convinced the public that it was only a publicity stunt." Luna slumped down beside Artemis, who absentmindedly lifted his arm and slid it behind her.

"Yes, remind me to send them a thank you gift," Queen Selenity said. She clasped her hands behind her back, below her wings.

"I suppose you won't punish them any further?" Luna asked after a moment.

"Oh, I don't think they need it, the shame is enough," the Queen agreed, turning, "But a little reminder might be nice."

Luna and Artemis perked up.

"What did you have in mind?"

"We haven't decided their senshi uniforms yet, have we?"

"No," Artemis answered, puzzled.

The Queen shook her head with a sigh.

"I will never understand the fashion of this generation," she began, "Did you see the sort skirt my daughter was dressed in? Her legs were showing. And that top - the little collar was quite cute, but the tightness -"

"A sailor-top, I believe," Luna put in, "Though a bit tighter than it ought to be to be sure. And those boots! Don't get me started."

"Well, Venus was positively ridiculous in that orange outfit."

Artemis scowled. The Queen smiled to herself.

"And did you observe Mars' heels? She'll break her ankles, mark my words. And such an eye-catching red -"

"Yes," the Queen broke in, "Unique garments without a doubt. The children do seem to be fond of dressing as ridiculously as possible. You know I had been thinking of letting them help with the design for the senshi uniforms, but..."

"I can only imagine the disaster that would be," Luna began.

"Can you?" The queen smirked at her, catching her eye. Luna brightened.

"I see," she smiled.

"Do you? I'm so glad," the queen answered, "Help me with the crystal, I think we ought to fix that design now. They'll be attempting to transform for the first time next week, right?"

"Oh," Artemis said, finally understanding, "Oh, you can't mean -"

"Why not?" The queen returned, pulling out the Crystal, "If those are the kinds of clothes they want to wear, why not let them wear them?"

Luna chuckled, "Let's see how easy it is for them to shirk their exercises in short skirts and heels."

"But they won't be able to fight!" Artemis complained.

"Oh, I'll take it off after - oh, say - six months," the Queen replied, "Six months of fighting in those heels ought to be enough of a lesson for anyone."

"Definitely."

"You women are frightening."


	13. Chapter 13

The Golden Kingdom

Chapter 13

* * *

Endymion drew his cape about him and sucked in the cool night air. The ante-room was so busy and full of noise that it hurt his head. But that was only a minor discomfort compared with the bluntness, the anger, with which his father had once again dismissed him from war talks.

After his sojourn on the Moon, he'd told no one what he saw, not even his four best friends. Not even Kunzite. Yet he attempted to do everything he could short of admitting his brief adventure, to convince them and most of all his father that the war against the Moon was ridiculous.

Of course, without proof, it was a hopeless cause. But if he revealed what had happened, he knew what his father would do to the young men. Even were he to say it had all been his fault, the king was in such a mood that no one was safe.

He pounded his fist into the cool stone of the palace balustrade.

"Your highness?" a clear voice spoke from the shadows.

He turned quickly, then let out a breath.

"Oh, Lady Beryllius -"

"Please, your highness, call me Beryl. Those long names are only for courtiers and flatterers."

She smiled, her dark red hair glinting in the light of the lanterns.

"Lady Beryl. Has my father called you here as well?"

His confusion amused her, so she laughed a little as she said:

"It seems that my expertise is useful to His Majesty. I can't hope to be as competent as my former master, but I am glad to offer what little I can for the cause."

Endymion resisted the urge to snort and instead put on a smile that he hoped was not forced. And looking into her pleasant face, he felt a real smile replace it.

"I am sure you are more than equal to the task. You are a far better conversationalist than Master Lanthanum ever was, begging his pardon."

She laughed again.

"It doesn't do to speak well of the dead, but it's quite true. My poor master was a brilliant scholar, but a less than sparkling wit, and not much of a caretaker either. If I hadn't already known how to fend for myself, I'm sure he would have starved me through neglect."

"Was he as bad as that?"

"He was a dear. I was very fond of him. He was like a father to me."

Endymion glanced at her, surprised. He knew, from watching the newly appointed court philosopher, that she was intelligent, kind, and above all, driven, but he had never had the opportunity to speak with her about anything other than philosophical questions. He realized that she was perhaps the only court person he'd ever spoken to in this manner. But then, Beryl's main strength was that she always seemed to see through people - to know precisely how to approach them, and how to interest them. It was something he privately admired about her.

"I have forgotten that you were an orphan, forgive me -" he began.

"No, I will not," she answered, lightly.

"I won't forgive you for forgetting it," she continued, answering his puzzled look, "Because you are the only person here who has forgotten it. I consider it a courtesy to be afforded the same treatment as the well-born sycophants that clutter the hallways seem to think their due. It is a rare experience."

Her cheeks reddened as she spoke and her eyes glittered, with what emotion he was not exactly sure.

"You speak your mind."

As suddenly as she'd blushed, she grew pale.

"Yes, far too often. I forgot to whom I was speaking, Highness. Please, forgive me."

"I will not."

He smiled.

"You talk to me as if I'm a human being," he explained, "I don't mind if you forget that I'm a prince."

"The High Prince," she murmured, but the corner of her mouth turned up a bit and a hint of the blush returned.

They were both silent for a while, lost in their separate thoughts. Finally Endymion turned to her.

"Do you - do you think that this war is the right thing to do?"

Beryl continued to stare into the night sky, up at the moon. Her brow wrinkled.

"I think," she said, slowly, "that whatever protects the people of this kingdom is the right thing to do."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Philosopher's privilege."

He almost laughed.

"I don't think it is," he said, after a moment, "How could something so beautiful be a threat? It ought to be treasured."

She watched him staring up into the sky and felt for the first time a sharp prick of pain in her chest.

"Be careful of beautiful things, Highness; they usually come at a price."

The bitterness underlying the words startled him, but her expression was so calm he thought he must have imagined the tone.

"Indeed. I'm sure you're right. Well, I see my father calling me, if you will excuse me."

She curtsyed at once, and he gave her a quick bow.

"Your highness," she called, abruptly. He turned.

"The moon is beautiful," she said, softly, "But, it's not - not reachable. But, the Earth...the Earth... is real."

She sounded and looked so strangely wistful that he felt slightly moved with an odd sort of pity that he couldn't understand.

"Thank you, I'll keep it in mind, Lady Beryl."

He bowed again and left her standing on the balcony. And she watched him for quite some time and did not notice that the air had become cold, or that she was shivering.

* * *

They had not gone to the Moon. The concert and all the birthday festivities had been canceled.

Uranus was currently sitting on her own bed, in her own bed-chamber, in her own part of the castle, on her own planet. Alone.

She had a headache. Technically it was a hangover, but who was counting?

Her attendant appeared and handed her a glass of something nasty but rejuvenating, and she drained it in one long gulp.

She sat the glass on the glass table beside her bed and shrugged herself into a formless, split skirted dress and a long coat. She pulled on her knee-length boots with the heels that made her even taller than she already was and ran a hand through her hair which only succeeded in making it stand straight up.

Perhaps earrings? she pondered, racking her brain as to how to ameliorate the damage.

There was the briefest of knocks on the door and her father entered.

"Sir," she grunted and stood, quickly, respectfully. He gave her an exasperated glance and motioned for her to sit back down.

"Finish your toilette, daughter, I'll keep this short."

Uranus secretly quailed at his tone of voice, but began applying make-up with a steady hand.

"I thought I'd made myself clear about this ridiculous infatuation of yours -"

Uranus' heart leaped into her throat.

"-Races and flights and the occasional fight are all very well as far as youthful hi-jinks go, but -"

She felt her heart start beating again.

"But duels!?" he thundered, "I won't have it. I heard this morning, at my breakfast table, that you had fought a duel last night with Lord Telchine's eldest son, and I won't stand for it any longer. The man is my oldest friend and -"

"I'm sorry, father," she broke in, "I was not in full form last night."

"So I have been informed by Lord Telchine himself!"

"How did he know!?"

The king was red with anger and embarrassment, but he had himself under control, so far.

"Because his son told him. And not to mention that young Hyperion just became engaged to your best friend - I would have thought that would have stopped your making a pin-cushion of the lad. Princess Neptune must be extremely vexed with you."

"Has she come here?" Uranus turned around, so quickly that she knocked half of the table's contents to the floor.

"Did she say anything?"

The king studied his daughter's pale features in silence. Uranus' face was like her mother's had been; long, well-defined cheekbones, an aquiline nose, strong mouth, but there were circles under her eyes, and the hollows in her cheeks were too prominent.

"Daughter," he said at last, "Is something troubling you?"

Uranus licked her dry lips but couldn't decide what to say; she turned and began picking up what she knocked to the floor.

"I realize that...since your mother died, I have not been - I have not spent perhaps as much time with you as I -"

"Father, that's not -"

"No, let me finish. I haven't helped you as I should have. These last years have been very troubling. Very troubling indeed. Perhaps...but no -"

"There is something."

He stared at her, startled at her sudden change of voice.

"There is something that I want."

"Well, of course, if it isn't something impossible -"

"Teach me how to use this."

She drew out a wand.

He stared at it as if it were a snake or some hideous monster come to life in her hand. He stood.

"Where did you get that? Who gave it to you?"

His voice, belying his face, was calm.

"It came to me on its own. I woke up one morning and it was there. In my pocket. What is it? What does it do?"

"I can't - you shouldn't -"

"You have to _tell me_!!" she took a deep breath, "Please."

"I...can't."

She put a hand to her head and pressed her eyes hard for a moment.

"All the time I can feel this - this power - resonating inside me, like - like a - like a bubble of hot air, it's bursting to get out - through my hands and my eyes and my mouth - it feels like I'm being consumed by some sun inside of me. I know you know something about it. I do too. When we were children, Neptune and I -"

She paused and swallowed rather painfully.

"Neptune and I," she went on, "We found the histories. I know what we are. But there's nothing to tell us how to become what we're supposed to be. Or how to use this. And I think we have to because I know something's going to happen. I can feel it."

Her father put a hand to his face.

"Yes," he said, after a moment," Something is going to happen. But there is nothing anyone can do to stop it, I'm afraid."

"But can't we try?"

He looked up at her and almost smiled.

"We can try, my brave heart, but - there is no use. The very fact that you and Princess Neptune have these powers, these wands, means that all hope is lost. You were not supposed to awaken. It means that she is coming."

"Who? Who is coming?"

"The Silent One."

"What will she do?"

He sighed.

"She will destroy and re-make the world."

Uranus sat down with a thud. She didn't even realize she was sitting.

"How can that be?"

Her father crossed to her. He didn't touch her, but he stood beside her and said softly:

"It is the way of things after all. Death follows life and life follows death. This world is close to death, and in order to live again, it must die."

"But everyone I - I love - will die too."

"Yes."

She stared down at her hands, calloused, clutching the odd wand. She felt the dread and unhappiness and fear crowd into her heart and just as suddenly they were expelled.

"I'll stop her."

"You can't."

She looked up at him, her face set.

"I want to try. I have to try. You must let me. You have to teach me."

"My daughter, I will help you in every way I can. But I can't teach you how to use that, for I don't have the slightest idea myself. You will have learn on your own. But Princess Neptune could help you."

"I...don't want to drag her into this -"

"Drag me into what?"

Both Uranians turned sharply to the doorway where Princess Neptune, in a dressing-gown so fine that it looked like a normal dress, her hair undone and unbrushed in unruly curls, and one hand gripping a fencing foil, stood staring them both down as if she were in her own palace and they were intruders.

How does she do that? Uranus wondered, vaguely.

"Princess," the King began to bow, but Neptune cut him off.

"I let myself in, sir; don't blame Aether."

"Your Majesty, I was just -" Aether, the King's oldest retainer, leaned heavily against the door frame, trying not to wheeze.

"It's alright. Princess Neptune is used to coming and going here as much as any of us."

He took her hands and lightly saluted them.

"I hope you always will," he said.

She allowed him a small smile to show that she was considering forgiving him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Shall I -"

"No-"

"Yes, thank you," Neptune firmly interrupted Uranus' plea.

The King left, closing the door behind him.

Uranus stared at Neptune, and Neptune returned the glance with a cold one of her own.

"This is yours, I believe," she said holding out a bloodied silver foil with the tips of her fingers, as if it were a dead animal.

Uranus found her feet and lurched toward her, attempting to grab it, until Neptune flung it at her and she was forced to catch it mid-air.

"You left it at Hyperion's home. After you stabbed him with it."

"I just grazed his arm-"

"Stabbed him," Neptune finished with a sharp, chilling look that silenced Uranus more effectively than a slap or a shout from anyone else.

"Well?" Neptune asked, quietly.

Uranus simply stared at her, uncomprehending. She couldn't think when Neptune was looking at her like that.

"Do you hate me so much then?" Neptune asked at last, her voice trembling slightly.

"Gods, _no_!"

Uranus was horrified.

Neptune seemed to struggle with her expression for a moment, then some of the tightness went out of her face and she put a hand that shook only very slightly onto a nearby chair-back.

"Good. Then why did you pick a fight with my betrothed?"

At the word, Uranus turned away and marched to the far end of the room to place her foil on a table.

"I don't remember. We were both drunk, and - you know how things are - "

"You mean, when you are so intoxicated you can't even stand up straight?"

Uranus winced, but picked out a cloth and started to clean the foil's blade.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I didn't think you would care."

There was such a length of silence that Uranus thought the other girl must have left. She turned around sharply to find Neptune with her back to her, a hand to her face.

"He's only my future husband, why would I care?"

Uranus gave the blade a vicious swipe with the cloth that nearly earned her a new wound.

"And you're only my - my best friend," Neptune finished.

Uranus put the sword down on the table and let her hands rest with it, allowing herself to stare at the wall for a good five seconds.

Then she turned suddenly, took four strides across the room, spun Neptune around by her shoulders and roughly (and without any thought at all) kissed her.

The quickness of the gesture startled Neptune so much that at first she was stiff, almost to the point of resisting, but then once she realized what was happening she started to relax, and then to reciprocate, but by this point Uranus pulled away from her and shoved her back.

"This is how it is," she said, her voice rough and breathless, "So now you understand."

She didn't look at Neptune when she said it; she simply stood with her fists clenched by her sides, staring at her toes.

"You can go...if you want."

She looked up then, but only to stare at the blue cloud pattern on the wall. There was a faint flush on her cheekbones.

She waited, feeling all the while more and more mortified and trembling inside at her own impetuous nature that had probably destroyed their friendship forever. With an ever sickening sense of dread she cleared her throat and forced herself to look at Neptune.

"I said you can go. I'm sorry."

She almost felt herself tearing up and sucked in a sharp breath, determined to be a soldier to the end.

But she noted, to her unending surprise, that instead of looking revolted or shocked or betrayed, Neptune seemed relatively calm. Almost...amused?

"I'm not." the other girl finally answered.

"Not what?"

"Not sorry."

Uranus blinked as Neptune pulled her head down, somewhat gently but insistently, and kissed her much more slowly and deeply than she had earlier attempted.

Several things went through her brain at this moment, but she couldn't seem to connect them in an order than made sense, so she did what she normally did which was to let her instincts do the thinking, and her arms of their own accord wrapped themselves around her friend's shoulders and then up to her face to cup the back of her neck.

When Neptune let her go, she pulled back and stared down at her in dazed amazement.

Neptune smiled.

"I was hoping that maybe you felt that way," she admitted, tugging playfully at Uranus' blond bangs.

Uranus blushed; unable to look at Neptune, she caught the hand playing with her hair and kissed it.

Then Neptune frowned.

"But for the gods' sake, why didn't you say something sooner?!"


	14. Chapter 14

The Golden Kingdom

Chapter 14

* * *

"My ankles are killing me!"

Sailor Venus sank to one knee, rubbing her left leg. Above her, Artemis crossed his arms.

"I had nothing to do with the design of the uniforms. And the longer you complain, the longer this will take. Do it again."

"But I've already done it ten times!"

Venus was getting dizzy. She looked around and found the princess - no, Sailor Moon - propping herself up against a pillar, while even Jupiter was breathing hard and looking weary. Only Mercury and Mars seemed to be unaffected.

Mars' face was far more solemn than usual and her skin was paler, but she continued to transform and de-transform on Luna's never-ceasing count.

Mercury, being an android, and a very accommodating one at that, never tired of any of the exercises but completed them all with perfect composure until she was allowed to return to her apartments or, occasionally, the gardens where she would take very long walks.

Looking at her calm expression as she returned to being Princess Mercury, Venus wondered for the umpteenth time what was going on in that brain. Mercury caught her eye and smiled.

Well, whatever it was, Venus was sure it was much pleasanter than her own thoughts toward Artemis at the moment.

Frankly she loathed the man - cat - whatever her was. From the moment he'd become her trainer he'd been snide, bullying, and generally unhelpful. She had the sneaking suspicion that he thought she was a vapid twit, and that didn't help raise her opinion of him.

So she schooled her features to a sweet smile, transformed once more into Sailor Venus, and put her hands on her hips, staring him down. He continued to glare at her.

"Do it again, Venus, please."

"Why are we practicing transforming all day? Wouldn't it be a better use of time to practice, oh, I don't know - attacking?"

Artemis's eyes narrowed.

"One thing at a time, Venus. Transformations have to be fast, quiet, and use as little energy as possible. You are at your most vulnerable in a transformation, and the amount of power required to perform one will create a flash unless you are very careful - and that little bit of flash will alert your enemies to your presence. You should be able to do one without anyone noticing the change until it's completed."

She wasn't really listening, of course, because she'd heard it five times already.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Artemis clenched his jaw, and Venus went on blithely as if she hadn't noticed.

"I think I've got it down, _Artemis_, so can we progress to something a little more interesting today?"

"You'll have it 'down' when I say you have it down. Besides, the gestures involved are too complicated for you to learn at your present level."

The tone of voice put her on edge, and her expression became even sweeter.

"Oh, really? Because I've studied the books a bit myself. They don't look that complicated."

Artemis actually rolled his eyes. Luna, still counting, flicked a glance toward the two of them and lost a count.

"Uh, that will be all Jupiter, Mars, take a break, Mercury."

The girls stopped transforming, taking on their normal forms, and sat or stood, but all watched Luna walking to where Artemis and Venus were in a standoff.

"What is she doing?" Jupiter hissed.

"Being an idiot, as usual," Mars hissed back. Now that she was sitting down, Jupiter could see the fine beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Guys!"

"SHH!" Mars and Jupiter shushed Selenity so emphatically that she almost fell over.

"What?!"

"Venus and Artemis are at it again. She's really made him mad now," Jupiter explained.

"She's so unpredictable."

They all looked up in surprise to find Mercury standing with them, watching the pair.

"You sound like it's a good thing," Mars sourly commented.

"I think it is."

Mars shook her head but turned back to watch the gathering storm.

"I'm telling you that these forms are beyond your understanding. And, to be frank, Venus, I doubt you'll ever be able to understand them!"

"Artemis!" Luna barked, "That's enough. Venus, I'm ashamed of you."

"But why don't we just find out? Hm?" Venus went on, her face dark, but no other sign of anger welling up, "For instance, let's start with the first form. Even a simpleton like me should be able to master that, right?"

Artemis paled.

"Don't! You little fool! You don't know what you're doing and you'll hurt yourself."

Venus smiled as Artemis and Luna took a step back. She raised her hands and executed, in perfect form and exactness, the first move in her repertoire.

"Venus Crescent Beam -" She pointed at a small boulder and felt the energy rushing along her arms:

"Smash!"

She lowered her arm and pointed at the boulder and light shot from her finger, leaving a tingling sensation that ran up her arms. The boulder shattered, spraying pieces over the guardians and herself.

Venus tried to slow her breathing. She'd practiced the form in her room at night, but she'd never had the guts to actually try it with power. She was totally astounded that it had worked - that she wasn't dead.

"Wow, what a rush."

Artemis turned almost purple with fury.

"YOU LITTLE IDIOT!"

Before she could move he embraced her tightly, her face crushed into his shoulder despite the fact that they were close to the same height.

"Don't you ever EVER do that again!"

"Artemish-" she mumbled, trying to extract herself but feeling weak because her adrenaline rush was over.

"You could have killed yourself!"

"Artemis," Luna tapped him on the shoulder.

"You stupid little brilliant little -"

"You're smothering her."

Artemis pushed Venus back, and got very red.

"She's a genius," he stated, "Did you see that Luna!? Did you see how she did that!? No lessons! Just pure instinct! A genius!"

He pointed at Venus.

"Don't do it again, or I'll kill you."

Venus opened her mouth to protest but Artemis had already turned back to Luna.

"Did you see her! Amazing. We're going to try all of the new attacks now! Girls, come on!"

"Artemis, you need to calm down -"

Luna couldn't decide whether to laugh or slap him. Both seemed a good answer.

"She's a prodigy! I knew it!"

He turned to Venus and grabbed her hand, tugging her toward the other princesses who had been watching the entire ordeal with open mouths.

"Show them, do it again!"

"But -"

"I don't want to see it again," Jupiter shuddered.

"How did you do that, V?" Selenity asked, "That was so pretty."

Mercury executed Venus's maneuver perfectly - of course nothing happened.

"Remarkable," she said, "I believe that, had you moved your arm or fingers in any other way, even with a difference of one half of an inch, you would have caused the flow of energy to disrupt your own internal system, most likely causing hemorrhaging."

Venus paled.

"R-really?"

Mercury nodded, brightly.

"Fortunately you did not. Very well done."

"Well, I've been studying."

"So have I."

Mercury's face brightened so much that Venus almost felt sorry for her. No one liked to study the way Mercury did - with her it was a pleasurable experience. Venus had just wanted something to do.

"May I try?"

Artemis and Luna looked at Mercury and then at one another.

"Sure, why not? Girls stand back."

* * *

"That's why," Venus explained to Artemis as they walked down the hall companionably an hour later:

"The transformations should be as flashy as possible. It will distract the enemy. If you're going to release that much energy in the first place, make it big enough to intimidate or misdirect, don't hide it."

Artemis nodded. Since she had proven that she wasn't the slacker he secretly feared her to be, Artemis had jumped to the unfounded conclusion that she was a martial prodigy and nothing could shake his faith in her abilities or his new found respect. Affection for her, he'd always had, though he hadn't shown it.

"Changing quickly is still a good skill to have," he replied, "But I can see your point. Perhaps we should try a range of transformation tactics."

"And," Venus added, somewhat timidly (this new respect was still a bit unsettling), "I've also been thinking that we should utilize our other abilities."

"What do you mean?"

"Since we've been here you - uh - we - uh, Mars has been discouraged from pursuing the study of her own natural abilities, but I've seen some of them and I think they would really come in handy."

"How so?"

"Well," Venus laced her fingers behind her back, "She can sense evils - emotional evils and spiritual evils - surely that's something we could use? It might not be anything greater than that, but that's helpful. And Mercury wants to make some adjustments to her transformation -"

"The transformations are forms set down by the gods," Artemis interrupted, "We shouldn't tamper with them."

"I know, but Mercury thinks she's found a way to add on to what she already has - and it might be helpful."

Artemis shook his head.

"I can't like it. It's not a good idea to tamper with the gods' gifts. But, out of curiosity, what did she have in mind?"

"Well, it's like a - it's a - maybe she should just explain it. Mercury?" Venus spoke into one of the palace communicator systems. After a moment of static, Mercury's voice answered.

"Can you meet me on the second floor? Artemis wants to hear about your ideas for adapting the transformations."

"Of course."

Venus turned back to Artemis.

"There are some concerns though."

Artemis lifted an eyebrow.

"Up until now Selenity and Jupiter have tended to hang behind in all of the attack exercises. Selenity's abilities just aren't there yet - she has no talent for hand-to-hand, frankly."

"Granted."

"But Jupiter, as much as she tries to hide it, is the best fighter of all of us. She can hit harder than anyone I've ever seen."

"She is Jovian. It's in their blood."

"I know. And up until now she's gotten by with just her natural strength and fighting abilities, but she always disarms her opponents. She never practices any of the killing moves, not even in simulation. And her ingenuity for winning without killing up until now has been pretty cool, but if we get into a situation where we have to...to kill...I don't think -"

"Will she be able to do it, is what you're worried about," he finished.

"Yes."

Her turned to look at her, curiously.

"Will _you_ be able to do it?"

Venus looked down at her hand that still tingled faintly with power.

"I don't know."

"Well, then, maybe you should have a little more faith in Jupiter. Besides, it will be something she has to figure out for herself. You can't force her to come to terms with it. Anymore than you can make Selenity a competent fighter. In fact, I was thinking that making her your healer might be the best strategy."

Venus blinked.

"Why didn't I think of that?" she asked, snapping her fingers, "Of course. That way it will be easier to protect her."

"From what the Queen has said, the crystal's abilities seem to coincide with healing as well."

Venus seemed to have a weight lifted off of her.

"She still needs to learn how to fight though," she continued after a moment, "It won't do any good if the rest of us are wounded or - or -"

"Compromised at the time."

"Yes."

They were silent for a moment, and only broke from their own thoughts when Mercury entered, carrying something in her hand.

"Hello, Venus. Hello, Artemis. I've brought the device."

Artemis peered at the thing in Mercury's hand with great interest.

"What is it? It looks like a microchip."

"It is. It's modeled after the latest transmodality and telemorphing technology pioneered by scientists in my home city."

"I see."

Both Venus and Artemis smiled politely as Mercury went into a dense and complicated explanation of the system's operation.

"And then," she finished some minutes later, "I'll show you how it works."

Her audience suddenly brightened, losing the glazed looks in their eyes.

Mercury pulled out her wand and transformed quickly without any flashiness, and then removed one of her sapphire earrings.

"The Queen's power caused our transformation uniforms to mimic those of the outfits we wore on the princess's last birthday," she explained, taking the back off of the earring, "At first I regarded this as a dangerous liability, though an interesting joke -"

"Thanks," said Artemis.

"However, I soon realized that the uniforms, though impractical in all other ways suitable to prolonged combat, could be used to distract an enemy or to hide useful devices such as this one."

She placed the chip into the earring, making a few adjustments with a delicate tool that she then put into a pocket that neither Artemis nor Venus had noticed.

"Infinite space pockets," she explained, looking up momentarily, "They are a slight modification of the Queen's design. Really the ability is already there, it just requires a slight re-working of the -"

"That's alright," Venus broke in, "How do you find it?"

Mercury smiled and tilted her head to one side as she often did when she was amused.

"Well, you put your hand in it."

She demonstrated.

"But it wasn't there before!"

Venus peered closely at Mercury's pocketless skirt.

"It's built on the idea of objective collapse - there is another reality in which the pocket has a skirt, and when I put my hand in it, it exists - or doesn't."

Venus and Artemis looked at her blankly.

Mercury took a breath.

"The existence of the pocket is relative to my observation of it or my lack of observation."

""It's alright! You don't have to explain. I put my hand in the pocket and it's there, I take it out and it isn't. Right?"

"Exactly. Well, close enough."

Artemis mumbled to Venus, "I think she just made a joke."

"But, what happened to the - the - whatever it was that you put in your pocket?"

"It's still there."

She took out the tool.

"How much can you put in there?"

"As much as I wanted, ostensibly."

"Like a sword?"

Mercury shrugged.

"You could put your sword in your pocket."

"But if I left it there would I be able to get it back?"

"Only when transformed."

"It wouldn't disappear or rust or something?" Venus continued, skeptically.

Mercury sighed and took another deep breath.

"The current space we occupy could be seen as a 3 + 1 dimensional universe, and possibly a subspace of a full universe, theoretically of course. If that is true then the space in my pocket could be a subspace of this dimension and includes only three dimensions, excluding time, therefore, anything that remains in my pocket space never ages or regresses. Also -"

Artemis held up a hand.

"Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. What was it you wanted to show me?"

Mercury clicked the back of the earring into place and put it on her ear. Then she touched it with one hand. Instantly a blue visor slid over her face, maintained, as Venus soon saw, by a small projection of lights coming from both earrings. It appeared to be an indigo glass but was actually a hologram.

Then Mercury drew a tiny hand held computer from her pocket.

"This is something I've been working on in my spare time," she said, with a sheepish smile.

When did she learn to look so human? Venus wondered.

"This computer is based on what I've learned from speaking with Mars. It seems her people are able to read the spiritual energy given off by others and to interpret, by instinct, the intentions and inclinations of the person being 'read.' My computer does something similar but it also assesses usual information as well including identifying species, planet of origin, and vital signs of whatever I'm looking at. Then the screen shows me the readings."

Artemis stared.

"And you did all this without interfering with the gods' powers?"

Mercury looked surprised.

"I'd never thought of that. It would seem from everything I've read that the gods' gift to me is water and temperature manipulation. I didn't really consider altering the uniform to be an interference with that plan."

Artemis cleared his throat and tried not to look as stupid as he felt.

"Ah, well, good. Then, ah, that's fine by me if you use it."

"Thank you."

"Carry on."

Venus watched him walk down the hall and giggled.

Mercury looked at her inquisitively.

"You really brought him down a notch."

"Did I?" Mercury replied, surprised.

"Sure did. That's my girl." She affectionately mussed Mercury's hair and the shorter girl's face broke into happy smile.

"Come on," Venus said, spinning her around and walking her in the opposite direction.

"Let's get something to eat before Selenity devours it all."

"Your vocabulary has greatly improved since I first met you, Venus, if you don't mind my saying so," Mercury said, shyly.

Now it was Venus's turn to look surprised. She laughed.

"Well, that's thanks to you, Blue. You must be a good influence on me."

Mercury felt her pigment modulator release before she told it to, and as a result experience her first spontaneous blush.


	15. Chapter 15

The Golden Kingdom

Chapter 15

* * *

Kunzite opened the door of his chamber and stepped into the cold stone hallway.

The richly embroidered carpets helped a bit in keeping his bare feet from freezing, but it wasn't much help.

He entered the library by the second door and paused to place his lamp on one of the low tables.

A scent of roses and a soft cough let him know that he wasn't alone.

He gathered his formal dressing gown around him and made the appropriate bow.

"Lady Beryl."

"Lord Kunzite."

In the half light of their lamps, Beryl's eyes glinted as she looked up at the solemn faced man.

"Late night reading?"

He smiled; an expression meant to put her at ease while simultaneously making light of anything he was going to say.

"Indeed. And you?"

She returned the smile, though it didn't reach her eyes, and held up her book.

"As you can see. A philosopher's work is never done."

"No," Kunzite returned to perusing the shelves; "Especially one so young, if I may say so. And newly instated."

"As you say."

"I hear nothing but praise for your wisdom, Lady. Remarkable for one of your years."

"Really?"

She smiled politely.

"But then, I might say the same of you."

Kunzite merely shrugged.

"What urgent topic concerns you tonight, my lady?" he asked after a moment.

He had caught her staring at his profile, but pretended not to notice.

"I am researching Lunar customs, by the King's request."

"Really?"

He feigned indifference, but secretly a rush of suspicions flooded his mind. If the King was asking Beryl to research the Moon, it probably meant that he was contemplating a military action against the Lunar race again.

"And have you found anything interesting?"

"Hardly. Everything I read confirms my notions that they are of little importance to us, though of large importance to themselves, apparently. For instance, did you know that Lunarians rarely mate, and when they do, they almost never marry each other?"

"I was unaware of that fact, naturally."

"Naturally," she agreed, continuing to stare at him, "And did you also know that the present ruler has been Queen for, as far as I can tell, almost one thousand years?"

"Quite long lived. Like some species of turtles."

The oddity of his reply seemed to baffle her, but only for an instant. Like many people, she didn't understand that Kunzite had distinct, if private, a sense of humor.

"Other than their long lives, I really can find no other point of interest, but as the King was so insistant..." she trailed off and waved her hand as if to say 'well, there you have it.'

"The King has a particular fascination with the Moon," Kunzite replied, selecting a book.

"I've noticed. It seems to run in the family."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, my lord."

Kunzite smiled down at her as he extracted the chosen book from its shelf.

"Myself, I find Pluto far more fascinating - What little is known of it," he said, hefting the heavy volume to one hand in order to wipe the dust off of it.

"Only one Terran has ever seen Pluto, and that from an immense distance. The civilizations there were destroyed centuries upon centuries ago, and according to that one brave scholar there are no more Plutonians living. Even their language is lost. Of course Saturn has never been inhabited - Apparently it's far too inhospitable to life. Uranus and Neptune are rather insular worlds; no explorer has managed to penetrate their civilizations, except for the one, of course, who died in a Uranian prison. Fortunately not before he was able to send his manuscripts back to Earth via a Martian cooperative. But that was before the Terraquatre War."

Kunzite carefully opened the book and leafed through the pages until he came to a particular chapter.

"Ah, yes. Here it is. He says, 'Martians are by far our best hope for allies in this universe. Their civilization, languages, and values are closest to our own,' - Of course he was writing quite a long time ago - 'But their complex system of social rituals requires a lifetime to understand and their system of belief at least two lifetimes.'"

Kunzite shut the book and placed it on the table.

"I suggest, if you are looking for something useful to read, that you try Lyanthem's _Correspondence. _It is the only work on the Moon written by some one who has actually been there."

He made a small bow and turned to go.

"Lord Kunzite."

He stopped.

"One more thing about Lunarians. According to Amaranth, when a Lunarian and a human produce offspring, the child will inevitably be more Lunarian than Terran, in both physical prowess and _appearance_..."

"This is especially true when the father is Terran, and the mother is Lunarian. Though, of course, such an alliance is utterly unheard of now."

He turned, his face showing only mild interest.

"Indeed? How fascinating. If you will excuse me, my lady. I fear I weary you with my company."

He bowed again.

"Not at all. Your conversation has been most instructive."

Beryl smiled and her eyes caught the lamp light again like two small amber jewels.

"Good night, my lord Kunzite."

* * *

Kunzite entered Jadeite's sleeping chambers and dogded the well aimed knife without even looking.

Amidst the rumpled bedding, Jadetite held another knife in his hand, still reaching for the lamp by his bedside.

"Kunzite, has something happened -"

"No. Appologies."

A faint smile hovered on his lips as he pulled the first knife from the wall.

"Not bad. You'll be as good as Zoisite in a few years."

"No one will be that good. And the way the country is heading, I won't be alive that long."

Jadeite finally managed to get the lamp lit and shoved the blankets off of him.

"So, I assume you have some reason for waking me up at -" he glanced at the clock on the wall, "Two in the morning."

Kunzite put the knife back on the bed.

"I do. I want you to get in touch with someone for me."

Jadeite was surprised and allowed himself to look it.

"Why me? Beg your pardon, but if it's a new connection wouldn't Neph -"

"Nephrite can't speak Martian."

Jadeite stopped pulling his boots on half-way through the process and really stared.

"This isn't all a dream, is it?"

Kunzite chuckled.

"No."

"But why -"

"The king is moving against the Moon. Or he will, very soon. He's already started Beryl on the track."

"You don't like her very much, do you?"

Kunzite shrugged.

"Well," Jadeite continued, "I don't blame you. For a low born woman, she's quite a looker, and smart as well - but -"

"I have no opinion of her."

His tone silenced Jadeite.

"Right. So, which Martian do you want me to contact for you? With the understanding, of course, that I've only studied the language from books and have never actually conversed with a Martian, so in all likelihood I won't be able to make myself understandable what-so-ever -"

Kunzite placed a scrap of paper on the bedstand.

Jadeite picked it up, gave it a glance, and whistled low.

"You know this will be practically impossible."

Kunzite looked him straight in the face.

"I have faith in you," he said, quietly.

Without another word, he left as silently as he'd entered.

Jadeite, still clutching the paper, lay back on the bed and let out a long suffering sigh.

* * *

Endymion slipped like a shadow between the pillars of the outer walk and toward the abandoned parts of the Palace. Careful not to let anyone see him, he made his way toward the teleporter gate and made the final adjustments to his attire. With rose in hand, he stepped boldly through the door.

* * *

Jupiter woke from an uncomfortable sleep to find that Selenity, who usually made her way to Jupiter's rooms at some point in the night, was not beside her.

This habit of sleeping together had not been Jupiter's idea, nor had she exactly liked it at first, but because she was a softy she had been the only person who allowed Selenity into her room on stormy nights. Snuggled up together (for inevitably the smaller girl _would_ snuggle despite Jupiter's efforts to dislodge her) they would sleep very well. It reminded her of home, when her little sister had often done something similar. Jupiter had come to look forward to the stormy nights. Selenity's companionship made her feel less homesick and out of place.

But tonight wasn't stormy, and though Selenity had arrived in the bedchamber anyway, and of course promptly stolen all of the sheets, she was gone now. Jupiter had never known her to leave during the night. Usually once the girl fell asleep she couldn't be moved by anything less than volcanic erruption.

Under the vague notion that perhaps the princess had gotten hungry, she pushed herself out of bed and found her dressing-gown. The Earth shown a beautiful soft blue in between the drapes covering the windows.

Jupiter put on her slippers, tied her dressing-gown around her, and stepped into the empty hallway.

Pattering past Venus's rooms she could hear the faint sound of music playing. It was a peculularity of the girl that she could never fall asleep without some sort of Venusian rock music. Jupiter often wondered at her leader's lack of taste.

She passed Mercury's rooms which were always silent. The girl didn't sleep, but she did read continuously throughout the night or she would tinker quietly with some new project. Yesterday she'd had them try out something she called "communicators" which looked like rather ugly bracelets but which allowed them to see and speak with each other as long as they were in a relatively large range of distance.

Sliding past Mar's room, Jupiter paused to listen. The Martian was the sharpest of all of them, and if she were even the tiniest bit awake she would know that Jupiter was outside the door. Surely she must have heard Selenity go by - The princess was as silent as a heard of geese.

She waited, holding her breath, but Mars didn't stir. Everything in the chamber remained still except for the merest tinkling of the chimes Mars kept by her window. They were a present from her grandfather, she'd once told Jupiter, and warded off evil spirits.

Jupiter didn't know if she believed in evil spirits or not, but if there were such things she was sure that she wanted nothing to do with them.

As she exited the Princess Hall (silly name, she privately thought), she noticed that the East garden's entryway was not securely fastened. Curious, she was about to close it when she head a voice exclaim:

"I don't understand."

Jupiter stiffened. It was the princess.

Carefully she peaked through the crack in the door and saw Selenity standing in her white nightgown with a warm over-gown on (well at least she remembered to dress warmly, Jupiter thought) facing someone Jupiter couldn't see.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Selenity took a step toward whoever it was. Jupiter started for the door again, but held herself back. She heard a few words uttered in a low male tone and blushed. The thought had just occured to her that Selenity might be meeting with a lover or some such. These things were certainly not unheard of, even on the Moon. And she had seen Selenity eying several of the handsomer palace guards just yesterday.

Still, she thought, I never expected _Selenity_ of having a lover so soon!

The thought rankled somewhat since she didn't have one yet. Hadn't so much as even smiled at a boy, much less arranged to meet him in a garden in the middle of the night.

"Boy are you going to get it when Mars finds out," she grumbled, stepping away from the door.

Well, if that was how it was, she supposed she would give her friend some privacy, although she felt a bit hurt that Selenity hadn't told her. She was her best friend, after all.

"Rats," she grumped, and continued to say many other hard things about Selenity as she made her way back to her bed and covered herself from head to toe in the sheets.

* * *

Selenity sneezed.

"Excuse me," she said, rubbing her nose in a completely unlady-like way, "I'm not used to the cold night air."

The man she'd just found in the rose bushes, who did not, whatever he may have at first said, look like a gardener, offered her a handkerchief.

"Thank you."

She blew her nose.

"You can keep it."

She caught his odd stare and turned a bit red.

"Why did you tell me you were a gardener?" she asked, "I know all the gardeners and you aren't one of them."

"I'm sorry," the young man bowed and his elaborate suit rattled a bit.

"The truth is that I'm from Earth," he explained, "And I was wary of being caught. I thought I might...be in trouble."

Again he'd forgotten how bizarrely genial these Moon people were - As if they had no enemies.

Selenity tilted her head to one side to consider him briefly and then said in a rush:

"Well, I think you'll be alright. You don't seem to be dangerous. I'm the princess so, unless my mother decides otherwise, what I say goes, and I say you can stay here as long as you don't do anything foolish. Are you really from Earth? I've never met anyone from Earth before. You don't look like a barbarian. Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. What I meant was that you don't look like what I'd expected."

"I'm sorry, did you say that you are the princess?"

She didn't notice his tone of incredulity.

"Yes. My mother's Queen Selenity. My name's Selenity too. It's a bit confusing."

"You look a lot like your mother."

"Oh!" her eyes brightened, "Have you met my mother? She's very beautiful. I'm not half as pretty as she is, but maybe I will be someday. When I get my wings."

"W-wings?"

Endymion felt a bit out of his depth here until he remembered that the queen had had wings. This strange girl in the gardens looked like her almost exactly, except a bit younger, shorter, and far less graceful. Her eyes were a lighter blue and her hair was a bit whiter than the Queen's pale silver.

"Princess Selenity. I beg your pardon for intruding at this late hour. Is it at all possible for me to speak with your mother? Or one of your royal officials or guardians of the realm?"

Selenity eyed him up and down in frank admiration, but then said:

"I _am_ one of the guardians of the realm."

Endymion coughed politely into his hand.

"Perhaps someone a bit...older?"

"I'm close to seventeen, you know."

She put her hands on her hips.

"And while we're on the subject, you haven't yet said a word about who you are, how old you are, and what you're doing in my rose garden."

In spite of himself, Endymion was tempted to smile.

"Very well. I'm Prince Endymion, the only son of the King of Terra. I'm here to warn your mother about my country's current activities which may prove threatening to your world. And I'm twenty-one."

Selenity's eyes widened.

"You look younger."

"Uh- thank you. Princess, I'm in a bit of a hurry -"

"I'll tell you what -" Selenity broke in, "I'll make a deal with you."

"Uh."

She crossed her arms across her chest and tilted her little chin up.

"I'll make sure my mother gets any and all messages you have for her because you seem like a trustworthy person. But, in return, you have to let me come visit you on Earth."

"But, princess, that's quite out of the -"

She held up a hand.

"Just one visit. That's all I ask. I think it's only fair that if our worlds are going to work for peace, I, as future leader of my world, should be somewhat acquainted with your culture."

Of course she didn't mention that she'd had a burning desire to see Earth since she was a very young child. This opportunity was too good to lose.

Endymion watched her young face adopt a regal attitude and thought: she's smarter than she looks.

"It would be very dangerous."

"Well, I don't know what princesses are like on your planet," she said, doing her best imitation of Mars, "But I can take care of myself, thank you."

Again he almost smiled.

"It would have to be kept secret, and I'm afraid that no one besides myself could know that you were there. And you would have to visit at night, when it would be very cold. If these terms are really acceptable to you -"

"They are."

"-Then I will escort you with pleasure, any time of your choosing."

She dropped the lofty attitude at once and broke into a brilliant smile.

"Oh, thank you!"

On the verge of clapping her hands she remembered decorum and belatedly attempted to recover it.

"I will see that my mother receives the message."

"Princess?"

"Yes?" Her hand was on the door.

"I haven't given you the message yet."

"Oh."

She tiptoed back. Endymion took a step toward her, looking around to assure himself that there was really no one else there. He leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Selenity nodded.

"And, if she has any reply -," he began.

"I will be sure to bring it to you on Earth," she finished, brightly.

Inwardly, Endymion groaned.

"Yes, thank you."

Well, he really couldn't see any way out of it without dragging yet another person into the plot, endangering his secrecy - therefore he must accede to her request, for the present. She seemed like a nice enough kid, and he trusted the Queen. If this could prove a way to save their worlds, then perhaps, when the turbulence was over and she was queen, they would have a good foundation for a political friendship.

Though it would be an odd friendship, he considered, watching her attempting to curtsey and tripping a bit.

"When will you return?" she asked.

"As soon as I can. Within the week?"

"I will come to the garden every night then."

"Perhaps you'd better not; wouldn't that attract suspicion?"

"I'll tell them that I'm going to meet the gardener."

Endymion stared at her blankly.

She gave an exasperated sigh.

"You see," she explained slowly, "the other princesses will wonder where I am, and I'll tell them that I'm meeting the gardner, who's really very good looking, and they'll think it's a romantic tryst and leave me alone."

Suddenly the impropriety of their situation dawned on Endymion.

"Perhaps it would be better if I just meet you here the same day next week, only say, at sunset. Then you might come up with a less improper alibi. And you might bring a maid or serving woman or companion with you."

"Improper?" she asked, confused and a little insulted, "He's very proper. I've known him since childhood! And he flirts with me all the time."

"But to be alone with him - or me, for that matter -"

"And of course it would be stupid to bring anyone with me, you dummy, because in the first place I haven't got a maid, and in the second place if I brought Princess Jupiter with me she'd be mad that I was meeting you and she'd force me to tell everyone, and then your secret would be out of the bag."

"Excuse me. I didn't mean to upset you. Our customs are different."

"Apparently."

They were a bit miffed with each other, but too well bred to show it.

Endymion took her hand and saluted it and she bowed to him.

"Until next week, Princess."

"Sir."

She turned to allow him privacy for returning however he managed to get there - and she really was too sleepy at this point to be curious. Latching the door, she tiptoed down the hall to Jupiter's door, but found it locked.

"Mean old thing!" she hissed and tiptoed back to her own bed which was very large, very cold, and very empty.

She lay down to compose herself for sleep, but hadn't closed her eyes for more than five seconds when she suddenly sat bolt up right.

"Holy Light of Selene, that was the Prince of Earth!"


	16. Chapter 16

The Golden Age

Chapter 16

* * *

Jadeite flipped through his battered copy of _500 Martian Verbs_ and tried very hard not to have a headache. The sun would set in another hour and then he could find a few moments rest in his chambers until he had to report his progress to Kunzite that night.

"The man is impossible," he muttered to himself, in Martian. The only Martian he'd ever actually used was ages ago when Nephrite had blatantly used him as a translator in a cross-planetary tryst. That was when a few Martians still visited the Earth. He'd been barely thirteen, Nephrite fourteen, and the Martian ambassador's gorgeously exotic daughter a respectable twenty-one.

"That makes her legal," Nephrite had confided to him. Jadeite rolled his eyes at the memory. He'd spent the better part of the night struggling to translate complex Martian metaphors of love between the two, growing increasingly nauseated with the task (and somewhat put out since he was head over heels infatuated with the ambassador's daughter too) until Nephrite had finally decided words weren't getting him anywhere, even if they weren't his own, and promptly let his lips do the talking - which earned him a glorious kiss and a glorious slap on the face.

Jadeite sighed, returning to conjugating a particularly tricky verb in a particularly tricky extended metaphor. He was writing a letter to the same Martian ambassador, hoping the man had forgotten the incident - or perhaps that there was currently a war brewing between their two worlds.

"Hope springs eternal," he murmured to himself. That would make a good line for a poem, he thought. Maybe later.

There was no knock, which meant it was -

"Neph, you ass, I told you not when I'm -"

"Having your "alone" time with the portrait of the Asian princess, I know -"

Jadeite launched a particularly well-aimed paper weight at the other man's face, but Nephrite ducked and caught the stone and launched it back.

Jadeite managed to swerve and snatch it out of the air before it shattered his bedroom window.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, my beloved one?" he asked, politely.

Nephrite chuckled, flinging himself into the empty chair and letting his long legs rest against the table.

"Endymion's up to something."

Jadeite hid his expression by looking down at the rock in his hand before placing it on the table.

"Really?"

"Oh come one," Nephrite's brows snapped into a frown, "I know you've noticed."

"Maybe."

Neph snorted.

"Well, I don't know about you but I've had it up to here with secrets."

"How unfortunate that you've been trained as a spy."

"Save it."

Jadeite sat down slowly and began to tap his fingers against the table.

"Kunzite's having me write to the Martian ambassador."

"The one with the daughter?"

"The daughter, yes -"

"Hell of a kisser, that one -"

"No doubt -"

"Jealous still?"

Nephrite allowed himself a small, but smug smile.

Jadeite laced his fingers together and refused to take the bait.

"Anyway, perhaps Endymion's up to something similar."

"Forming slightly illegal connections? Possible."

They shared a glance across the table.

"Tail him?"

"Of course."

"Tonight?"

"Naturally."

They both suddenly and violently punched each other in the shoulders. Jadeite was only slightly slower than Nephrite, but both punches felt hard enough to break bone. They groaned in equal amounts of pain and cursed each other soundly.

"Alright, draw, we'll both go," Jadeite managed to hiss.

"Fine."

Jadeite stood quickly and punched his friend one more time for good measure before sprinting out of the room.

"Come back here, you bastard!"

Nephrite had to whisper the last word since, at that moment, a maid happened to walk past his door. He smiled at her in what he hoped was a natural manner and tried to stop rubbing his shoulder.

* * *

Venus twirled a length of hair around her finger as she stared at the palace mirror, absently.

Some flicker of movement caught her eye, but she thought she must have imagined it.

She searched through her drawer for her hair-brush but after about thirty-minutes of searching she couldn't find it. There was only one answer, of course.

"Selenity!" she groaned and trudged through the hall to the princess's bedchamber. She rapped on the ivory handled door.

"I know you're in there, you lazy thing. You've got my hair-brush again, damn it."

Princess's weren't supposed to curse, but sometimes the occasion called for it.

"What are you yelling about?"

Venus turned to find Mars, already in her night-robes, her long silken ebony hair sliding like a curtain over her shoulders.

"Selenity's got my hair brush."

The icy Martian lifted one elegant eyebrow.

"Well," she said, after a moment in which Venus readied herself for the coming snotty remark, "You could borrow mine."

Venus almost felt her mouth drop open.

"No offense, but are you feeling alright?"

Mars bristled, but managed to keep her cool.

"Perfectly. I just wanted to help. If I can't be of service -" she turned.

"No, I mean, wait, I mean - Just hold on." Venus grabbed her arm.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I was just surprised is all....I....I've never really been sure if -"

Jupiter turned the corner and almost knocked into both of them.

"Oh, hey guys. Have you seen Selenity? She said she was going to get me a glass of milk."

"Selenity was going to get you some milk?"

"For the cookies. She was bringing up the left-overs from the cookies I baked last night."

"And you believed that you would actually see these cookies when she returned? Having sent Selenity, the one-girl garbage disposal, to fetch them?" Mars querried.

Jupiter's face fell.

"Damn it, she better not have eaten them all," she muttered, turning back toward the hall.

"But I thought she was in her room," Venus interrupted, frowning:

"Listen, her music's playing. She always plays that before she goes to bed."

"Oh, she is _not_ in there _eating my cookies by herself_!!!" Jupiter thundered.

She promptly threw herself at the door and started pounding away at it while the other two princesses took a back seat.

"Selenity, you open this door right now! You little pig! Don't you -"

"Who are you talking to?"

Mars and Venus turned to find Mercury watching them all with a great deal of curiosity.

"Selenity has locked herself in her room with the last of the cookies," Venus explained.

Jupiter continued to yell and rattle the handle.

"I'm counting to five," she warned.

"But she's not in there -" Mercury began, before she was interrupted by a tremendous crash.

Looking up, the three found a startled and sheepish looking Jupiter standing in front of Selenity's now lop-sided door, hanging crazily off its wrenched hinges, a hole where the knob had been, and said knob clutched firmly in Jupiter's hand.

"Oh, crap," she moaned and forlornly dropped the handle.

"Nice going," Mars quipped.

Jupiter threw her a threatening look.

"Aw, it's not so bad," Venus said, reaching up to pat Jupiter on the back, "A little paint, a little gloss -"

"A little miracle -"

Venus stuck out her tongue at Mars.

Mercury had already peeped into the room.

"No, she's not there. As I thought," she said, then dusted her hands and gave a sigh of satisfaction.

"Well, I'll be in the library if anyone needs me."

"But - wait -" Venus craned her head around the broken door.

"Where is she?"

"She's really not there?" Mars asked, growing slightly worried.

The other three peeked into the room, around the lurching door. The room was shrouded in darkness save for the soft blue light of Earth pouring in through the tremendously large window on the opposite wall. The recorder by the window played the music that Selenity listened to every night. The twinkling melody rang out softly in the darkness.

"Where is she?"

They pulled back to look at one another, then at Mercury.

"How did you know she wasn't there?" Venus asked.

"I couldn't hear her breathing," Mercury replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Mars crossed her arms.

"Well, we've got to find her. She's probably wandered off somewhere in the garden maze and gotten lost."

"I think," Jupiter volunteered, "I think I know where she is."

They looked at her expectantly. She felt herself blushing.

"She's got this thing for the gardner," she admitted.

Mars frowned immediately, but Venus' face lit up.

"Anthem? The cute one?" she almost giggled.

Jupiter shrugged.

"I think so."

"He's hot."

"He is." Jupiter agreed.

Mars rolled her eyes and Mercury just looked puzzled.

"Well, let's go get her, she can't be out this late without -"

She broke off as the very gardener walked past the window in the company of one of the house-maids in a very amorous manner.

"Uh...."

Jupiter blinked.

"So, maybe not?"

"But if she's not with the gardener," Mars began, "And she's not in her room -"

"And she's not in the kitchen," Jupiter volunteered, "I just came from there."

"She's not in the commons," Venus added.

"She's not in the library either," Mercury concluded. However, no one had been naive enough to consider that impossibility but her.

"Then where -"

Even Venus was starting to feel a little anxious. They began to search her room.

"Look, her coat's gone!" Jupiter clattered through the princess's closet.

"And her fur boots."

"Why would she need all of that, it's not even cold -" Mars began.

The idea came to all four of them simultaneously though it took them a moment before they really acknowledged it. It was really too preposterous. As one they looked toward the window where the Earth hung eerie and inviting in the darkness of space..........

"No," Jupiter tried to laugh, "She couldn't have..I mean how would she even....."

"She wouldn't dare," Mars breathed.

"Highly unlikely," Mercury chimed in, though even she looked doubtful.

Venus crossed her hands on her chest.

"Gods damn it, Selenity."

* * *

Selenity chuckled to herself as she slipped through the woods. She'd never thought that the Earth would look so much like the Moon, except larger - vastly larger - the trees reached forever, and their leaves were so bountiful, even in the cold. She sucked in a cool breath and released it with great satisfaction and then a cough.

"Who's there?" a voice called sharply from the shadows.

"Oh," she said before clamping her hands to her face.

She edged back against a large tree, eying the gate of the palace gardens only a few feet away. Security was much tighter on the Earth than on the Moon. She'd already passed three guards who had been too busy with a card game to notice her, fortunately, since her stealth skills left something to be desired.

Selenity tried to stifle her own breathing as she watched the figure of a woman walk past her hiding place and turn to glide down the grove of trees. Apparently she thought that the disturbance had come from the direction of the preoccupied soldiers because she continued in their direction.

She slipped into the garden.

"Prince Endymion?" she hissed.

* * *

Endymion threaded his way through the garden, finally losing Nephrite and Jadeite, who he knew were following him.

He doubled back, but the evasion had caused him to be late for his meeting with the moon princess. Carefully, he treaded toward the small pond at the far Eastern corner of the gardens. He caught his breath for a moment when he saw her, remembering her mother's beauty as he noticed her delicate figure and soft white hair, like moonlight, spilling down her back. She looked like a fairy princess. He shook his head at the ridiculous thought. Then she tripped and fell over while trying to smell a rose bush and the illusion was ruined without his interference.

"Princess," he whispered, "Try not to kill the rose bushes, please."

* * *

"How did he do that?" Nephrite hissed to Jadeite as they crouched behind one of the high walls of the maze.

"Do I look like a magician?"

They sat in silence for a few moments, listening intently. They heard two noises, one to the East that sounded like something falling and a noise to the West that sounded like the small pop of a fire.

They shared another glance and hit each other on the shoulders. This time Nephrite was clearly slower.

"Right, right," he whispered, trying not to be a sore loser, literally. He set off after the popping noise while Jadeite made his silent way East.

* * *

From his high window, Kunzite noticed Endymion making his way through the maze followed by Nephrite and Jadeite.

What are those idiots up to?

He wondered, briefly, whether it would be worth it to throw at them one of the smoke bombs (packages of gunpowder) that he kept in supply, but decided that the wasted powder would not be worth even this great amusement.

He sighed and resigned himself to another long night of planning the King's battles (plans he increasingly hoped would never be needed) when a flash of white below caused him to pause.

Closing his eyes he concentrated for a moment, and then transported himself to the garden below.

* * *

Zoisite heard an odd popping noise close to his bedroom window but was so engrossed in studying a mechanical device he'd recovered from an ancient (and illegal) collection of Mercurian oddities that he gave the noise no other thought than recognition of its existence.

He also did not observe the small flashes of blue, gold, green, and red light outside his window.

* * *

"Did it work?" Venus asked, not opening her eyes yet incase she had died.

"Yes," came Mercury's calm voice.

"This is where the computer says she is."

Venus opened an eye and the stared widely at the tall hedges all around her.

"Are we in some kind of forest?"

Jupiter stared around her with increasing delight.

"I think it's a garden," Mercury countered, examining one of the rose beds, "These appear to be cultivated arrangements."

Mars stiffened.

"Someone's coming," she whispered.

They were all already transformed - it was the only way they knew how to teleport so far - and this had been their first attempt. Again, luck seemed to be on their side.

"What should we do?"

Inevitably they all looked at Venus.

She almost felt herself choke but then surprised herself by saying, quite calmly:

"I'll search the East, Mars go West, Jupiter go North, Mercury, explore the building itself. When you find her, contact the rest of us - and _don't_ let anyone see you."

They all looked at each other's faces, noting how pale they each appeared. Well, Mercury was always pale, but still.

"Right."

Mars flicked her hair over her shoulder and began making her way toward the Western gardens. Jupiter and Mercury also departed. Venus let out a shaggy breath once they were gone. She hadn't wanted them to know just how nervous she was right now. Nervous beyond nervous. If any one of them was caught here....

She didn't even want to think about it, so she squared her shoulders and started looking for the princess.

* * *

Nephrite arrived at the spot where he'd heard the popping noise in time to see Venus creep around the corner as a flash of gold. Suddenly the interesting game of cat and mouse had turned serious.

With practiced ease he drew his sword, all hints of fun gone from his face and stance.

Stealthily he crept along behind her and was about to round the corner when he he heard a funny little cough and heard someone say in pleasantly low, honey voice:

"Don't move."

He turned and nearly dropped his sword in surprise.

Before him stood what appeared to be a woman dressed in possibly the most scanty outfit he'd ever seen, but he was making no complaints. Her head was high, chin determined, her long ruddy, chestnut curls tumbled down her back, restrained by a tie that still allowed captivating tendrils to escape and caress her cheeks; she presented a picture of otherworldly beauty. She had her hands pointed at him but all he could see, for that brief moment, were her eyes. They were startlingly large and seductive, deep green emeralds with a fringe of black lashes, and an elongated shape that made them seem smokey and half-closed. They were at odds, those mature eyes of hers, with the rest of her face which was singularly youthful. Still round cheeks proclaimed that she wasn't long out of adolescence whatever her figure and eyes might say, and her mouth with its goodnatured pout added to the contrast.

She licked her lips and shifted her stance, watching his every move.

My god, she's got legs that go on forever.

He blinked, clearing his mind for a moment, and opened himself to his second power.

Above him, the stars that always spoke so clearly, began to shudder and hush, whispering secrets to him. Slowly he lowered his sword to the ground, and watched her eyes widened and her long throat constrict in a hard gulp as she got a good look at him in the moonlight. She was clearly nervous, he could see that without the stars' aid, but whatever else she was feeling remained somewhat obscured. Yet the stars had done their work and now, armed with their knowledge, he would do his.

He shifted his weight to one leg, ran a hand through his hair to make his hair whisp around his face in what he knew to be an alluring manner. Then he startled Jupiter to such a degree that she remembered it long afterward by giving her his best smile - the one that showed his dimples to distraction, the perfect combination of sexy masculinity and boyish charm and said:

"Princess Jupiter, I presume?"

* * *

Endymion grabbed Selenity's hand and yanked her, as gently as he could, away from the rose bushes before she could cause anymore damage.

The princess pulled her hand from his grasp but not before noticing the odd tingle that ran through her hand at their contact. She dismissed it as static electricity, and oddly, Endymion came to a similar conclusion.

They shared a look.

Selenity noticed, in the moonlight, several things she hadn't at their first meeting. For instance, Endymion was much taller now that she was standing so close to him. He stood quite a few inches taller than her petite height of five feet, more than a foot taller at least. And yet he didn't seem to loom over her or dwarf her. She also noticed that his eyes were very dark and deep set and he had an aristocratic tilt to his mouth. His thick black hair hung just above his eyes, slightly obscuring them in a way that made him seem even more mysterious.

Involuntarily she felt herself give a little shiver.

For his part, Endymion was busy comparing Selenity with her mother again. She was more petite, with slender shoulders, pale skin, and pooling white hair that was so pale it seemed almost luminescent in the soft light. Her eyes, he noticed, were bluer than her mother's with small flecks of silver in them that reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite think who it was.

He shook his head, relinquishing his grasp on her hand as she pulled it away. It was small and delicately made, the bones as fine as a bird's. He felt an odd and sudden impulse to touch her hair to see if it felt like moonlight.

"Ahm," he cleared his throat, drawing her to a more secluded spot, "Your mother. What news?"

Selenity took a breath -

But was interrupted by a bright, normally cheerful but at the moment rather hard voice saying:

"Found you."

Selenity and Endymion jumped apart from one another as if they'd been burned, Endymion reaching for his sword.

"Wait!" Selenity cried, putting a hand on his arm and the other out in front of Venus.

He stopped as he felt the pressure of her hand, again attempting to ignore the feeling it gave him.

"Selenity," Venus went on, keeping her eyes and hands aimed at Endymion, "Come over here with me. We're going home."

"V, you don't understand -"

"This isn't negotiable."

"Wait, a moment I think there's been a mistake," Endymion began, staring hard at Venus who stared just as challengingly back.

"I can explain - I was just curious to see what- ," Selenity began again, but all three were interrupted suddenly by the appearance, ghostly silent, of a fourth party.

"So this," came a smooth, low, even voice, "is the famed Daughter of the Moon?"

They turned toward the approaching figure.

Venus was the first to clearly see the intruder in the moonlight.

Well, for starters he was tall. She had to give him that. Six foot four, if he was an inch. And with a muscular build - the size of the sword resting at his side indicated just how strong he probably was. He walked with an easy, confident, yet graceful gait, as if he were a king. Venus had never in her life met someone whose sheer presence was more overwhelming than her own. And his was close. It took every ounce of her natural self-confidence to keep her rooted there, with her head held high.

As he approached she could see his hair was white, straight and of a moderate length, falling below his strong jaw and whisping against his muscular neck.

I'm drooling over a guy's neck. She firmly tried to shake herself out of it. But then she met his eyes.

They were silver - not grey - _silver_. Like the Queen's, like the flecks in Selenity's eyes - except that instead of being only tranquil and serene, there was a surprising amount of heat swirling under the surface of his gaze. It was almost stifling.

He fairly reeked of power and command.

Then he smiled at her and she felt her toes curl. He had an easy smile that made the rather sharp lines of his face soften and his eyes crinkle.

He looked from her to the princess, and then back to her and Venus found herself cursing whatever god had put these weights on her tongue.

She could feel herself blushing.

He made a short bow and Venus felt her heart hammering in her chest.

"Allow me to say, Princess Venus, that you have a lovely singing voice."

Venus nearly fainted.


	17. Chapter 17

The Golden Age

Chapter 17

* * *

"Kunzite!"

Endymion looked at his friend as if he'd never seen him before. Unconscious that he did so, he took a slight step in front of the Moon Princess.

"Now I know you're probably angry," Endymion began, "But -"

"You look familiar," Selenity broke in, addressing Kunzite from over Endymion's shoulder.

The tall man gazed down at her solemnly, like a mastiff regarding a baby bunny.

"Oh!" she clapped her hands and tittered:

"You were the man who caught me when I fell off the stage!"

Kunzite's silver eyes grew even warmer as her made her a bow.

"I had that honor."

Selenity sucked in a audible breath that embarrassed Venus even more and made Endymion's hands twitched to hit the smooth white-haired guardian in the head, though if pressed he couldn't have said why.

"Wait," he interrupted, "You really know each other?"

"It was all my fault," the moon princess replied, "See, it was my birthday and we went to Venus because Venus thought -"

"_Selenity_!"

Venus looked ready to strangle the dumpling headed princess. Instead she grabbed Selenity's hand and started pulling her back the way she had come.

"Well, it's been a blast meeting you all and everything," she said, keeping her eyes trained on them as she dragged the princess, "But we're in a hurry so -"

"V, wait - I've got to finish telling Endymion -"

"Yes, how do you two know each other?" Kunzite broke in, for all the world as if they were sitting at a tea table and talking over mutual acquaintances, "To my knowledge, the prince has never been off of the Earth."

Endymion's face whitened just a bit.

"Oh, but he was in our gard-" Selenity began before Endymion clamped a hand over her mouth, startling Venus. She took a tighter grip on Selenity.

"Prince or no prince," she growled, "Back off, buddy."

Endymion met her blue eyes with his own darker ones and tightened his grip over the princess's shoulder possessively.

"If you don't mind," he said darkly, "I'd like to finish my conversation with her."

"Selenity, tell this cad to take a hike."

"Princess, could you please restrain your retainer before she hurts herself?"

Selenity, Endymion's hand still over her mouth, looked from one to the other with mounting anxiety in her wide eyes.

Kunzite coughed into one hand, getting Endymion's attention.

"Sire, if you would unhand the Moon Princess before you dislocate her shoulder or jaw...," he hinted.

Endymion promptly released her.

"As I was saying," Selenity continued, not even taking a breath, "We all went to Venus for my birthday and met this guy -"

"Kunzite," the man bowed again, "Commander of His Majety's army. At your service, your Highness."

Venus' eyes widened.

"Oh, Venus is _our_ commander," Selenity babbled, "Not that it's much of an army, but anyway, Endymion -"

Endymion pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, it was a lost cause now.

"Look," he interrupted, heavily, turning to address Kunzite, "I followed you on the night you tried to go to the Moon. Except that I actually did. And I met her."

Kunzite lifted one elegant eyebrow.

"You met _her_?"

"The Queen." Endymion's eyes rested on his face, trying to gauge the reaction his words would create.

"The Moon Queen."

"I see," was all Kunzite said.

There was an odd look in his eyes as he let them drift toward the Moon Princess, and in that instant Endymion realized that Kunzite's eyes reminded him of the Moon Queen's.

That's strange.

"So you arranged to meet again?"

Endymion nodded.

"Kunzite, they have no army, there aren't anymore than one-hundred of them, Lunarians I mean, and they don't even have weapons!"

"I know."

Endymion felt as if the Earth had moved under him.

"What do you mean _you know_!?" he stuttered.

Kunzite sighed and folded his hands behind his back.

"I have a few contacts on the Moon and other places," he admitted, "And I have known for some time now that the Moon does not pose a threat."

"Then why - what - why haven't you told my father?" Endymion demanded, "Why is he marching on with his plans!? There is no need for this war!"

Selenity gasped.

"War?" Venus repeated, blankly.

Her stomach dropped. What were they doing there? They needed to get out. What kind of a place was this where people planned war against them? A planet they'd never even seen?

Kunzite looked pained as he addressed the Prince.

"Sire, I did attempt to tell your father, but I soon found that my hints that the Moon Kingdom was not at all threatening only served to inspire him with more plans of war. You see, it isn't a defense he's building -"

"It's a conquest," Endymion finished.

He stared down into the Moon Princess's face. He suddenly realized that beneath her semi-ageless features she was a very frightened looking sixteen-year old.

"I'm sorry," he said, feeling something larger than himself pulling the words out of him - perhaps it was the power of her eyes - he couldn't break away from them.

"I promise I'll protect you," he found himself whispering.

Something flashed in her eyes and he saw a faint tinge of color bringing life to her dead white cheeks.

"Well, thanks very much," Venus broke in, hiding how shaken she was at the moment, and taking possession of Selenity's hand once more:

"But you can tell your king that we're not completely defenseless." This she aimed at Kunzite.

To demonstrate her point she opened the palm of her free hand and summoned the smallest amount of power she could, letting light flicker along her fingers and then catching it between her index and her pointer finger, she threw it at the two men, creating a small flash, bright enough to blind them as she and Selenity made their get away.

When Kunzite had recovered his sight, he put out a hand to find the prince.

Endymion threw off his hand.

"How could you?" he whispered, fiercely.

Kunzite flinched from his prince's gaze.

"You knew this whole time and you never told me? You risked Neph, Jade, and Zoi's lives to go to the Moon - for nothing! You already knew what you'd find! Why would you do that!?"

Endymion's voice had escalated to a roar.

Kunzite bowed his head since holding the Prince's angry gaze had become too difficult.

"It was the only way to keep the Moon safe."

Endymion stared at him and then started to laugh unsteadily.

"Of course it is! Of course encouraging my father in his war against the Moon will keep it perfectly safe! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Sire," Kunzite's gaze grew worried, "You don't understand."

"Enlighten me, by all means!"

"Your father," Kunzite patiently explained, "Thinks that he can conquer the Moon because he believes it to be weak. And he has enlisted the court philosophers to help him stir the people against the Moon by creating propaganda about the Moon's arcane powers."

"So that's why he's got Beryl looking up all that information on the Moon, " the prince spat, "It's despicable how he just uses people."

How he uses _you, _Kunzite thought, but kept it to himself.

"But Zoi and I think -"

"Oh, so you'll tell Zoi, but you won't tell me!?"

The hurt in Endymion's eyes was almost more than Kunzite could stand. He raised a hand to his face and looked off into the distance in order to reorganize his thoughts.

"We couldn't tell you," he said, at last, "Because if you knew, you'd do what you're thinking about doing now. You'd confront your father."

"He has to be stopped!" Endymion countered, "This can't be allowed to happen!"

"No. It can't. But there is no telling what his reaction will be. Sire, he's been planning this war longer than you've been alive. There is another way."

"I don't see it."

"Jade thought of it," Kunzite explained with the ghost of a smile, "He thought that if the King was so determined to undermine the Moon's reputation in the minds of our people, then we should help him instead of stopping him."

"Help him? But why?"

"Because the King wants the people to fear and revile the Moon, but if that fear grows until it is overpowering, then Earth's forces will be too frightened to attack."

Endymion slowly nodded.

"So, in essence, you are trying to make the Moon appear as intimidating as possible. So much so that when the time comes, the armies will rebel against his order to attack?"

"Precisely."

Endymion considered his tall friend for a moment.

"This was Jade's idea?"

Kunzite nodded.

"He's one sick bastard."

Kunzite chuckled.

There was a scuffle behind them and Jade, Neph, and Zoi burst into the small, deserted portion of the garden.

"Kunzite, intruders in the -" Neph began.

"A Martian in a short skirt just -" Jade said.

"There's a Mercurian in the kitchen," Zoi finished.

Endymion and Kunzite looked from one to the other in astonishment. Neph's face was flushed with excitement, and his hair was standing on end as if he'd been electrocuted. Jade was trying to be calm, but he was holding his left hand wrapped in a bandage of ice and cloth. Zoisite had forgotten to put his shirt on and had lost his glasses at some point.

"She's beautiful."

"Who?"

"The Mercurian," he answered.

"What the HELL is going on!?" Nephrite demanded, tugging vainly at his hair. Jade gave him once over look.

"What the hell happened to you? Stick your hand in a generator?"

"I was hit by a bolt of lighting, thank you for your concern. And why are you holding your hand like that?"

"Bolt of lightning!? It's not even overcast. Are you drunk?"

"No, Zoi, I am not drunk. A beautiful girl in a short skirt just threw a bolt of lighting at me."

"You're definitely drunk."

"He's not," Jade countered, "He's not smiling. He always smiles when he's drunk."

"I'm NOT drunk!"

"I think we've established that."

"Well, then how can you explain -"

"Look at my hand, Zoi," Jade thrust his hand, showing a long angry welt of a burn, in the younger man's face.

"Second degree burn. Smoking?"

"A beautiful girl in a short skirt threw a ball of fire at me -"

"Is this some kind of joke between you two?" Zoi asked, "No, really. Is it?"

"Will you all shut up!?"

All four men turned to look at Endymion.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Zoi asked.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" Endymion thundered, "I'm the prince, gods damn it!"

They all stared at him, then turned to Kunzite. Kunzite sighed.

"He is aware of our plan. About the Moon."

"Oh."

They looked at Endymion again - Nephrite relieved, Jadeite guilty, and Zoisite a bit apprehensive.

"Finally, I don't have to worry about what I say -"

"Wasn't aware that that ever bothered you that much," Jadeite drawled. Nephrite punched him in the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, sire," Zoisite offered, "We thought it would be better -"

"Yes, I know."

His tone silenced all of them most effectively.

"It appears that I've been left in the dark about a great many things," he went on, coming the Prince on them quite entirely, "And I'm glad to tell you that that's going to stop tonight. Now, Nephrite, what happened to your hair?"

Nephrite ran a hand up to his head and patted his hair ruefully.

"Jade and I were trying to trail you -"

"I know."

"And we split up when we lost you. I was going to come after you because you were being tracked by someone - a woman I think - wearing gold - but before I could get to her I was stopped by another woman. She spoke with an odd accent. The stars told me who she was, though I can't think why I didn't recognize her immediately. She was one of the girls at that concert."

He turned to eye Jade whose eyes widened, and who, in turn, nudged Zoi.

"It was Princess Jupiter," he finished.

Endymion frowned.

"Princess Jupiter? But Princess Venus was here as well. Although she certainly didn't look like a Princess."

"Wearing a short skirt?" Zoisite enquired.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Kunzite answered.

"The girl I encountered was definitely Martian," Jadeite offered, "I spoke with her in Martian, which pretty well near floored her. Don't think she expected me to be able to speak in sentences, let alone her own language."

He chuckled at the memory.

"That must have been Princess Mars," he continued, "But why didn't I recognize her?"

"Well, I don't know anything about princesses," said Zoisite, (which was untrue), "But I do know that a Mercurian appeared in the kitchen tonight."

"How do you know that?"

"Because she had blue hair. I went to get a late night snack and I startled her. She was very polite."

"Did she look like the girl at the concert? Princess Mercury?"

Zoisite squinted.

"I don't know," he admitted at last, "I'd lost my glasses by then."

They groaned.

"Let us say, for the moment, that that was Princess Mercury," Kunzite reasoned, "Why were the four princesses, excuse me, five -"

"Five!"

"The Moon Princess," Endymion answered, "She came to meet me."

Now the men stared at him as if he'd turned into some vile monster.

"Why are you holding midnight rendezvous with Moon Royalty exactly?" Jadeite pursued.

"I was trying to obtain information about the Moon's activities and to pass messages along to the Queen."

Startlingly, Jadeite broke into a full belly laugh. Endymion stared at him.

"It's too funny," he smiled, "Really. All this time, Kunzite's been trying to keep everything a secret from you and you've gone and done the very part of our plan that seemed impossible."

He continued to chuckle and wiped his eyes.

"We've been trying to make contact with the Moon Royalty for a year now. And the Martians. Which gives me an idea, Kunzite -"

"I've already considered it," Kunzite nodded, "Your highness, is the Moon Princess planning on coming to visit again?"

Endymion ran a hand through his hair.

"I have no idea. We didn't get a chance to make another appointment -"

"I think she'll have to come again," Jadeite interrupted, "And when she does I think her entourage - those princesses are undoubtedly her court - will come with her."

"Which is exactly what we want," Zoisite finished.

Nephrite and Endymion stared at them, blankly.

"Why do we want that?"

"Because we can make contact with the Princesses to warn their respective planets against the King's plans," Zoisite explained with a long suffering sigh, "Don't you see that?"

"But, how do you know the others will come with her everytime?"

"You should have seen the look on her face when the Martian, Princess Mars, rather, asked me where the Princess was - I thought I was a dead man right there. If she's missing, they'll come."

"But what do we do in the mean time?"

"Wait for the Princess's curiosity to overpower her guardian's watchfulness," Kunzite answered, "And hope that it happens soon."

Endymion sighed and shook his head.

"What a muddle. Clandestine meetings with planetary princesses."

"Pretty planetary princesses," Nephrite added.

Kunzite threw him a quelling look.

"Well, one thing is for sure and certain," Endymion continued, looking up at all of them in turn:

"You all owe me a night of free drinks at Black Hall."

Zoisite blanched.

"I've got so much work to do," he groaned,"I don't have -"

"How exactly did you know the Mercurian was beautiful if you weren't wearing your glasses?"

The look on his prince's face shut him up.

"Right, drinks it is," he muttered.

"Kunzite?"

The taller man nodded.

"I'll come."

"And drink?"

He merely looked at them.

"Well, can't say I didn't try," Jadeite murmured.

The five men turned and made their ways back to the safety of the inner palace.

From her place in the shadows, Beryl emerged, fresh tears still glistening on her cheeks.

How could it be possible? The King's own son a traitor to his country. In her heart of hearts she couldn't find it in herself to reproach him for it, though there was an ample amount of anger growing against his guardians - especially Lord Kunzite.

"Fools," she hissed, angrily swiping at the tears, "You'll lead all of us into slavery."

She gathered her shawl more tightly about her chest and crept through the shadows with the stealth she'd learned in her father's house when attempting to avoid beatings resultant from her father's irascible temper.

She reached the sanctuary of the library, connected to the hallway which also held her bedchamber. She sat in one of the dusty, uncomfortable chairs and let her head rest in her hands, allowing the tears to fall more freely and the sobs to shake her body.

"I can't believe it," she whimpered, "I just can't. Not him. Not Endymion."

A jewel like twinkle caught her eye and as she mopped at them with the corner of the shawl, she slid and old, black volume with a single onyx inset in its cover.

She looked at the title, written in Ancient Lunarian, which she could just barely translate.

"The...shadow..." she read, haltingly, "of...the Moon."

She opened it.

Inside she discovered an ink and watercolor painting of an old tree with names written among its branches in the same flowing and beautiful script.

Beryl settled back into the chair and made the lamps brighter.


	18. Chapter 18

The Golden Age

Chapter 18

* * *

With a loud pop they appeared in the Princess's bedchamber.

And with a loud growl, Venus launched herself onto the princess, both of them falling onto the bed.

"What did you think you were doing!?" she shouted, gripping the princess's shoulders and shaking her against the bed.

"Whoa!" Jupiter called, jumping onto the bed behind her and trying to pull Venus off of the princess.

"How could you do something like that, Selenity!? Do you even know how dangerous that was!? Do you have ANY idea? What-so-ever!?"

Selenity could only stare up into her friend's face and yelp as Venus smacked her against the bouncy bed again.

"Venus CALM DOWN," Jupiter warned, struggling to get a good grip on the smaller girl.

"This isn't helpful," came Mars' clipped voice, "You're just going to scare her."

"I SINCERELY HOPE SO!!!"

"Venus! Argh. Help me you guys!"

"V!" the princess wailed, "You - don't - understand -"

"You're right I don't understand - those people hate us - they want to kill us - and you -"

"They don't!"

"Who wants to kill us?" Mars asked, sharply.

"The people of Earth," Mercury guessed, standing by and watching the proceedings with fascination.

Mars whipped around to stare at Mercury, for once in her life truly startled out of her usual haughty calm.

"They want to kill us? But why?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know Mars," Jupiter growled through clenched teeth as she finally managed to haul Venus off of Selenity.

"I suppose it wouldn't have anything to do with your frying one of them."

Mars crossed her arms and sniffed.

"He appeared threatening."

"Let me go!"

Venus wrenched herself away from Jupiter and they all stood, panting, glaring at each other (except in the cases of Selenity, who just looked frightened, and Mercury, who looked intensely puzzled).

Jupiter ran a hand through her hair and de-transformed. Her abundantly thick hair almost immediately fell out of its tie and nestled around her shoulders and in her face. She blew her bangs out of her eyes, but they fell right back again. She frowned.

"Look," she said, pointing at Venus, "You calm down, ok?"

Venus nodded. She also de-transformed and started rubbing her head.

"Ok. Now -"

"Wait a minute," Mars interjected, "You electrocuted one of them, and you blame _me_ for merely singeing one?"

"Burning his hand off isn't "singeing" and I didn't mean to do it - It was an accident! I got scared, ok?! You know how I feel about violence."

"Oh what a mess," Venus groaned, her head in her hands. She sat down on Selenity's bed and the princess timidly scooted toward her.

"I'm sorry, V," she whispered, "I really wasn't thinking. But the prince isn't unfriendly. He wants to help us - that's why we decided to meet in the first place."

Venus' head shot up.

"But you can't meet anymore. It's too dangerous. You heard what that - what was his name -"

"Kunzite?"

"Yeah, what he said," for some reason Venus found herself blushing, "They are contemplating war against us. An invasion."

The others were floored by her revelation.

"But - they can't do that!"

"They can do whatever they want," Mars growled, "They're bigger, stronger, and more powerful than we are."

"I hate bullies!" Jupiter smacked her fist into her palm and then looked down at her hands, startled. She felt queasy. All this talk of violence, and her encounter with the Earth soldier that night had confused and frightened her quite a bit.

"Perhaps the cause is not totally lost," Mercury finally chimed in, "The prince, by your description, does seem to be working for our best interest. And his helpers are not unreasonable. The young man I encountered in the kitchen, for instance -"

Venus waved all of this away.

"It doesn't matter. Even if he's doing this for the best, we don't know enough about him and it's too dangerous for any of us to go back there. We should just tell the Queen what that guy -"

"Kunzite," Mar murmured, and Venus blushed again.

"Yeah - what he said about the war. And then we should start planning how to defend ourselves. Selenity, what if Prince Endymion is actually using you to spy on us? They could have planned this whole thing."

Selenity's face went white.

"He wouldn't do that!"

"How do you know?" Mars countered.

"I just - it isn't - He just wouldn't!"

Selenity crossed her arms across her chest.

"Well, there's an informed opinion."

Selenity burst into tears.

Mars rolled her eyes while Jupiter sat down beside the princess and began to rub her back.

"Look," Venus spoke up, "It's been a long night. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Selenity nodded, and tried to stop hiccuping.

"And, we'll just deal with it in the morning."

Venus felt, for the first time, the weight and responsibility that went along with the glamour of being the leader of the infamous Senshi. She felt like running to hide under the covers and never coming out.

"Hey, hey," Jupiter soothed, "Don't cry, bunny."

Selenity smiled at the nickname.

"Sorry."

She almost gasped as she felt Mars' hand on her head. The Martian princess continued to scowl as she awkwardly patted Selenity's head as if she were comforting a puppy dog.

"Ahem," she muttered, turning to go to her chambers, "I hope you feel better."

Selenity, Mercury, and Jupiter watched her leave with varying expressions of surprise on their faces.

"You know, she's not so bad," Jupiter commented.

"She's lonely, I think," Mercury spoke up, "And shy. She never had any friends before us."

The other two regarded her with amazement.

"How did you know that?"

"She told me."

"She talks to you?"

Mercury shrugged.

"I listen."

She smiled at them and squeezed the princess's hand.

"It will be alright, Selenity."

"Thank you."

Mercury went back to the library, past her nearly unused bedroom.

Jupiter and Selenity regarded each other with sheepish looks.

"So," the princess began, getting in one last sniff and a swipe at her nose with the sleeve of her long coat.

"So."

"Was the Earth soldier good looking?"

There was a twinkle in Selenity's eyes answered by one in Jupiter's.

"Um," the tall princess blushed, "Maybe."

* * *

Beryl considered her options.

Her popularity at the court was growing (which meant the king would probably support her decisions as long as they coincided with his own), but she couldn't actually tell him to his face that his son's guardians were traitors. Nor, she reflected, did she actually want to. She disliked them all, it was true, but not enough to endanger their lives even should the king believe her story.

She had missed a great deal of their conversation last night, but enough to know that, regardless of their intentions, they were effectively plotting treason. But with what she had discovered in _The Shadow of the Moon _-

"Oh, Lady Beryl, it's you."

Beryl tried her best to smile naturally as she found Jadeite standing before her, several tomes in his arms.

"I'm sorry that I didn't notice you earlier, Lord Jadeite."

"No, no, my apologies, my lady."

Lord Jadeite, she reflected, was always all politeness, and never meant a word of it. One could tell by his eyes; they were always faintly mocking. He seemed somewhat sincere today, however. He was, besides Kunzite, her least favorite of the Guardians chosen by the king.

"Some light reading?" His eyes drifted towards the thick book in her hands.

"Lunarian histories. His Majesty prefers to be informed of our en- our neighboring kingdom's customs."

"Of course."

Jadeite smiled. No one could smile quite the way he could - something between a glacier and a the edge of a knife, and yet, somehow still utterly polite and even charming.

"Well, I won't keep you from your studies, my lady."

He bowed, lower than was strictly necessary. She wondered if he was mocking her or if the bow was sincere. It was impossible to tell with him.

"My lord." She curtseyed.

As he strode past she made a faint of tying a loose ribbon in order to get a glance at his books. She caught "martian" and waited until he'd passed to return to the ancient and restricted books sections.

"M," she murmured to herself as she began to run a finger over the books' spines.

* * *

Endymion snuck through the Moon garden to the privet hedge. He knew she would be there. He'd gone out that night and seen the full moon, and somehow he knew.

"You can't sleep, Princess?"

Selenity gave a soft little gasp and dropped the rose she'd been admiring.

"You really shouldn't be here. I don't know what possessed you to come."

Endymion wasn't sure himself, but he'd followed the impulse (and the opportunity) and under the cover of darkness, the two of them stood in the shadow of a statue in the gardens, watching the Earth. It took Endymion's breath away to see his home floating in the sky.

"I've been thinking about Earth," the Moon Princess spoke, "Since the last time we spoke."

"It's very complicated -" he began.

"It is very beautiful."

Selenity turned to him.

"Isn't it?" she said, almost wistfully, "No one else seems to understand. Except mother."

"That's what I wish we could get everyone to understand. The whole galaxy."

She raised her arms and then let them flop back to her sides. She turned away and sat on the edge of a fountain, taking care to stay in the protective shadow.

"There has to be some way to fix it all. Doesn't there? I mean, with everything we're capable of - we may not have advanced weapons or whatever, but we can make so many things -"

She broke off and rested her chin back on her knee..

"May I ask you a question?"

"Hm? Oh, sure."

"Does it....does it trouble you that - that you will live longer than those around you?"

Selenity was silent for a long moment and he wondered whether he'd offended her.

"You mean," she answered, quietly and not at all in her usual bubbly manner, "Do you mean how do I feel about having to watch Mars, and Jupe, and V die before me?"

Endymion didn't answer.

"I hate it," came the reply, muttered into the crook of her arm.

"Mother told me, when I was a child, of course I didn't understand it then. I thought she just meant that I'd live a little longer. I don't see why we should live so long. I mean, we're all related, right? Isn't that so? Mercury said something about the DNA..."

"Well, technically speaking, all the inhabitants of the planets had common ancestors. Perhaps even the gods themselves."

"Then why doesn't everyone get to live forever? And that's another thing!" Selenity stood up.

"Everyone says that Lunarian's live forever and it's such a wonderful thing, but it isn't true. We don't live forever. Eventually we fade away, if we aren't killed. And there are hardly any of us because we live so long."

_Lunarian pregnancies and childhoods can last three hundred years_, Endymion mentally recited to himself, _Less or more, if one parent is not Lunarian._ "Lunarians almost never marry -"

"Other Lunarians." Selenity finished, "Want to know why?"

Endymion watched her delicate yet full profile in the darkness, what little he could make out. The temptation to know if her hair felt like moonlight was increasingly insistent.

"Because we don't like to be reminded that we live so long. Look at us."

She held out a long, white, plump arm.

"Pale as a ghost. Everything about us is ghostly. No color. That's why we like to surround ourselves with as much color as possible," she explained, "We throw parties and we order flowers from Jupiter and image devices from Mercury, paintings and sculptures from Mars and even Neptune (gods know they're expensive), and still, even with the fake sky, it's still so drab. That."

She pointed at Earth.

"That's beautiful. That's alive. Your eyes are the same color, you know."

She blushed a little, but in the darkness he couldn't see it.

"They're a very dark blue, like darkest part of the ocean. I've seen it on the image screens. And your hair is the color of night -"

She stopped when she felt him take her hand.

Endymion stared down at his hand, not quite understanding why it had moved on its own. But he didn't take the motion back.

"It must be hard to be so lonely and to feel trapped," he said, softly, "I know, a bit, how you feel."

"I shouldn't complain," she grumbled and missed his smile.

"Really, it isn't so bad being Lunarian. At least I'm full blooded."

"I wouldn't know, really. If you don't mind my asking, why is it better to be full blooded?"

She looked up at him in surprise.

"Your guardian knows all about it. I suppose he's told you what it's like for Lunarian-human children."

"My guardian?"

He looked at her blankly.

She laughed at him.

"Kunzite, of course."


	19. Chapter 19

The Golden Age

Chapter 19

* * *

"So she's meeting with him this moment?"

"Yes, my queen."

Venus twisted her fingers behind her night gown, hoping she wasn't getting her best friend into trouble, but too worried about the state of universal peace to let it bother her too much.

Queen Selenity, sitting gracefully by the large window of the outer room of her chambers, turned to look back at Venus and smiled in her maternal way.

"Warm cider?" she asked, nudging a mug toward Venus.

Venus, as she always had in childhood, eagerly reached out to take it but suddenly paused, then withdrew her hand. She was no longer a child. She was the Queen's general. Queen Selenity noticed the movement, guessed at its reason, and her smile grew wistful.

"Sailor Venus," she said, giving the formal title, "I think it best to allow the meetings to continue, for the present."

Venus almost choked.

"My Queen? But - this prince - what-ever his name is - he's - he could be a spy!"

"He could be, but I've met him, you see, and they already know our defenses, and so it seems to me, both on the strength of the impression I received and from the information you have provided, that he is in earnest. In order to confirm that I am willing for Selenity to meet with him. She's safe here in the palace."

"But -"

Venus stopped, and colored.

The Queen's eyes narrowed.

"You were going to say that their meetings may transfer to Earth? Has she gone there?"

Venus slowly nodded.

The Queen sighed, and turned to look out of the window at the Earth again. The silence stretched through the room and across Venus' weary mind.

"Its not as....strange....as it might seem, you know. Her attachment to Earth, I mean."

The Queen looked at Venus for a long moment, making the girl squirm.

"May I tell you a story, Venus?"

Venus's eyes widened. The Queen was going to confide in _her_? This stately woman whom she always secretly pretended was her mother, who was so much stronger, kinder, wiser than her own mother.

"P-please, your majesty."

The Queen turned back to her and clasped her hands lightly on the table, offering a funny, conspiratorial smile.

"I would appreciate it, of course, if you did not allow what I'm about to tell you to become generally known."

"Of course not!"

"Very well. You know that Lunarians live a very long time. I myself have been alive for nearly one-thousand years."

Venus turned a little pale at this, but tried not to show it. She picked up the cup of cider and sipped it, bringing color back to her cheeks.

"When I was young, about fifty-two (you know our childhoods can last quite long, mine was one of the shortest - only Selenity's has been shorter), I chanced to meet a delegation from Earth - this was before the present - ah - disagreement, in my mother's time when there were still threats from - "

She broke off suddenly, then gave her head a little shake.

"Where am I wandering to? The main point is that when I was the equivalent of your age, I went to Earth for the grand tour, and I fell in love with it."

Venus blinked.

"It's quite a beautiful place, don't you think?" the Queen quietly asked.

"I - I - well, it was night when I was there, and I was a bit - um - busy -"

"Yes, you won't have seen the beautiful trees - some of them older than I am - and the way the sky changes colors. But perhaps you noticed the crickets chirruping or the way the wind blows through the trees and makes them rustle? In the night, it can be quite beautiful - all those sounds."

To be honest, Venus had noticed none of this. She'd been focused on finding the Princess. She couldn't even remember what the Earth smelled like, now that she came to think of it. She cast her mind back and with great difficulty recalled that the atmosphere had been much purer than Venus. Much cleaner and more natural.

"Well," the Queen continued, "In any case I fell in love with the planet and went to visit it everyday, without my Mother's permission, though, as I said, things weren't so bad then. I also made a pretense of telling her that I was studying Earth in order to be fully informed when I became Queen. I'm sure she knew exactly what I was up to, but she let me go as long as it didn't interfere with my studies. One day I was walking along the beach of a place called - well, it really doesn't matter - I was walking there and I met a young man."

Venus perked up.

"A very handsome young man," the Queen added.

"Was he - ah -" Venus wasn't quite sure how to go on. It was embarrassing to suspect that the Queen could ever have been a teenager; could ever have been involved in things like secret trysts, or crushes or anything juvenal.

"He was well spoken, and we talked and walked together for the entire day. I had taken care, up to that point, not to actually speak with anyone from Earth or to let them see me, since my appearance seemed to startle them and upset some. But he didn't mind it at all."

_I'll bet he didn't_ - Venus thought, privately imagining what the Queen must have been as a teenager.

"Suffice it to say that we....that we eventually fell in love."

Venus turned red to her ears, but leaned forward, in spite of herself.

"But - what did you do? You don't mean that Selenity -"

She cut off and really blushed at what she'd been about to say. The Queen didn't seem to mind it, although her face was a bit pink as well.

"No-" she almost laughed, "No. You're getting ahead of the story. We were very much in love, but I soon found out that he was one of the royal family, and an heir for the throne. And indeed, after some ten years, he became the King. By that time he was close to forty. But age between our kinds is really rather irrelevant."

_Though it's enough to cause a war_, Venus added to herself.

"What did your mother -?"

"Oh, we had it out, of course. But she was right, in the end. She told me love between Terrans and Lunarians was impossible, but I was headstrong - you know how Selenity can be - and it took my love telling me the same thing for me to realize how hopeless it really was."

"What do you mean?"

Venus watched the Queen's face grow still and sad.

"We live too long," she murmured, "And my love was aging. I didn't mind it, but he did. He knew what it would be like - and we could never marry. So, after one last walk by the sea, we parted. And I have never returned. My mother did not place the laws regarding Earth travel. I altered them when King Cephalus asked me to. And it was only to prevent something like that from happening again. Not to cause strife between our two worlds."

The Queen was silent so long that Venus was afraid she'd forgotten the girl was there. But at last she turned to her, her eyes a bit more luminescent.

"I suppose you are wondering about everything else - no, it's alright, I don't mind telling you. For some reason, I have always thought of you as...well, I think of all of you girls as my children," she admitted, her eyes softening, "But you remind me so much of myself when I was younger -"

Venus was flabbergasted at the comparison. She felt a sudden determination - unsought for, but resolutely there.

_I want to be like her_, she thought, _if there's any way possible, I want to be a lady like her._

"Well, anyway," the Queen looked down, "You are like a sister to Selenity, like an older sister - I know she looks up to you. Selenity is a full blooded Lunarian. They're very rare -"

"I thought," Venus blurted out, "I thought that Lunarians never married with other Lunarians."

"Well, almost never," the Queen corrected, "My father was from Neptune, actually. And even he was said to have Plutonian blood. Which is even rarer."

"But then, if you didn't marry -"

"My mother arranged a match for me. It was quite unusual, but I happened to have a cousin, Hyperion, who was close to my age. It just so happened that we had known each other from childhood. He had affection for me, I believe, and when it was time for me to ascend to my mother's place we married. It was several hundred years later that Selenity was born."

"But, I've never heard of him," Venus stuttered, "I mean, and my mother made me keep up with every single royal family member of the last age."

She made a face at the memory. The Queen chuckled behind her hand.

"I've no doubt. But Hyperion was gone before Selenity was born, before you were born."

"Where did he go?"

"He...he - I'm not sure," she finally answered.

Venus frowned.

"You don't know where he is?"

The Queen looked at her for another long moment and Venus noticed suddenly how otherworldly she appeared. The ageless face was beautiful, but when it looked at her like it was looking now, it was frightening as well. Alien.

"Sometimes Lunarians don't die, they just sort of....fade away. My mother faded away, and so did Hyperion."

"Faded away?"

"It happens," the Queen continued, "When we lose hope or something equally precious to us."

Venus wanted so badly to ask but the look on the Queen's face quieted her.

"I don't know what it was that made him leave," the Queen answered her unspoken question, "He never told me."

It had been a loveless marriage, Venus could see that now. Like her mother's.

"But you had Selenity."

The Queen's face lightened instantly and grew more human. Venus breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, I did. The happiest occasion of my life."

"Does she...does she know about -"

"She knows enough. She knows a happier version of the story of my romance with the Earth king, though she thinks it's only a bedtime story and indeed, it might as well be," the Queen reflected, "And she's has always understood that her father died before she was born. He might as well have done so; I don't see a need in correcting her assumptions. The past is past, after all."

"But -"

_But it isn't fair_, Venus thought. She kept it to herself.

"I think she'll be happiest this way. Besides, if she does have any peculiar leanings toward Earth things, well, it's understandable. Perhaps its some flaw in me that she's inherited. I often thought it was that very thing that made Hyperion smile so sadly whenever he looked at me. I wish we could have made each other happier. "

Venus could tell now that the Queen had indeed forgotten her presences and was reliving a past memory.

"Hyperion and Cephalus couldn't have been more different, you know. In looks and in temperament. Cephalus had dark hair, bright eyes, and he was bold, and so lively and expressive. Hyperion was reserved, quiet, steady. His hair, of course, was white, but his mother had been Uranian, and his eyes were golden. Very clear and unemotional. His half sister married an Earth priest. The last marriage between a Terran and someone from one of the other worlds since about 900 years ago."

"No one would ever know - I mean, that her father - I mean she looks just like - "

"She does look a great deal like me, I know," the Queen laughed, "Perhaps that was part of what made Hyperion...unhappy. He couldn't ever seem to join me in my happiness - even when they showed us what she would look like, he only said she would be beautiful like me."

Venus gave an involuntary shiver and the Queen's galaxy dazed eyes refocused on her.

"I'm so sorry, child! What have I been thinking rambling on like this."

Venus protested but the Queen stood quickly and walked with her back to her chambers, taking great care to make plenty of noise so that the two conspirators would know she was on her way. It appeared that Endymion had already left and Selenity was snug in Jupiter's bed, clutching all of the bed sheets while Jupiter shivered beside her and kicked at her intermittently.

"Good night, my dear," the Queen whispered outside Venus' door.

"I hope you won't mind my confiding this little secret to you? It's just -" the Queen smiled wistfully, "She's such a dear girl, but sometimes she can be a bit difficult. Try to have patience with her, now that you know - well, now that you know," she finished.

"Of course, your majesty."

The Queen reached out a hand and patted Venus on the shoulder, then turned and made her silent way back down the hall.

Venus watched her go, and even as she was lying in her bed that night, she dreamed about a pale girl and dark haired young man on a salty, sunny beach, walking by the shore. And in the distance, a storm was moving. A man watched from the rocks. A man with white hair and golden eyes - sad eyes - sadder than any she'd ever seen. And as she watched him watching them, his eyes became silver, his hair grew longer and straighter, but he still watched with a sad expression on his face. And the storm came on.

* * *

Mars woke with grunt and swung her arm out as she always did. She was fortunate that she'd always lived alone. Otherwise she probably would have seriously harmed someone by that point.

She looked around for the sound that had awakened her and saw a little shadow stealthily making its way out of the Princess' chambers and toward the garden.

She watched it for a moment before her brows snapped together. She threw off the bed clothes and hastened to the door of her own apartments, not bothering to grab her wrapper or headdress.

Catching sight of the figure slipping toward the most ancient part of the garden she rolled up the sleeves of her long sleeping gown, raked a hand through her tousled hair, and whispered to herself:

"So that's how she does it."

A slow, determined look came over her face.

"Sorry, Selenity. Not this time."


	20. Chapter 20

The Golden Age

Chapter 20

Mars walked through the broken doorway in the most hidden part of the gardens. She knew from the resonance of magic that it was a gateway through space. It had lain dormant for thousands of years, forgotten by the last Queen, unheard of by the present, but discovered by the future ruler and put to interesting use.

Mars closed her eyes tightly as the wind from the doorway whipped around her, sensing her presence and hurling her through space.

There was no air, no light, no sound, no room to breath - and suddenly there was gentle moonlight on her face.

She pulled pieces of her hair out of her mouth, exasperated, and stiffened when she heard a low chuckle.

At once she recognized the young man she'd burned the last time she'd visited Earth.

Once more he spoke before she could. And in dreadful Martian.

"Good evening, princess."

"Where is the heir to the Moon?" she spat out.

He smiled.

"With the prince. Quite safe. May I offer you something to drink? The cellars here have quite a selection -"

"Perhaps you did not understand me," she interrupted, changing her tone to the most formal Martian dialect and usage.

"We did not come here to take refreshment with thee, slave. We came to recover the princess. Show us where she is or we shall castrate thee."

She smiled politely.

Jadeite gulped. His smile faltered. For the first time, he revealed a sincere expression of discomfiture.

"Honored one," he began, attempting to match her tone, "Forgive this humble slave. He desires only to please you, and this at his master's bidding. Your treasured one will be brought to you at your word."

For good measure, he bowed a low as it was possible to bow without falling over.

Mars gazed at him for some few seconds, her face betraying no emotion but cold superiority.

"We will dally with thee for a short while," she replied, finally, arranging her short skirts to sit primly on the garden bench.

"There are some things of Earth which we desire to know."

Jadeite quickly looked up at her reply, but kept his gaze fixed on her shoulders since he remembered that eye contact was considered rude between a superior and an inferior.

"Ask anything."

"I will," she retorted, switching to Terran speech. She spoke with a slight accent.

"First, how many strong is your army?"

Jadeite frowned.

"Without the slightest trace of disrespect, your Majesty, I am not allowed to tell you that."

"You do not trust me."

"I -" he began.

"You are right not to."

There was a pregnant silence after her harsh words.

"Since you can't tell me that, you probably cannot tell me your King's plans to invade the Moon?"

"So you know about that."

"We're not complete morons."

"I would never -"

"Is the king planning to invade or not? Can you tell me?"

Jadeite shook his head.

Mars sighed.

"Perhaps you can at least explain to me your ranking system. What is your position?"

Jadeite put his hands behind his back and straightened, standing as he would before Kunzite.

"There are four provinces under the capital and they are ruled by four families directly connected to the crown by blood. I am the younger son of the Eastern family."

"You are a prince?"

"In name, yes. I was chosen to serve the Crown Prince as his guard and advisor. My family's territories are not as large as the other provinces and our stewardship has been comparatively short. Therefore, I rank lowest among my fellow guardians."

Mars raised an aristocratic eyebrow but said nothing, so he continued:

"I am the Eastern Commander. Roughly this means that, should a war occur, I will be the Supreme Commander of the Eastern Army, under the leadership of the Crown."

"Your army is, no doubt, smaller in comparison to the other three princes?"

"As you say, your Majesty."

"Hm."

Mars glanced around at the gardens. The moon hid behind a cloud; it's thin, silvery beams were lost in the shadows of the garden.

"Tell me about the other three. What are their ranks?"

"Kunzite is our leader. He ranks highest, second only to the Prince himself. He is the prince of the Middle Kingdom, and his family is the oldest and most connected to the throne. His aunt is married to the King's -"

"Lord Kunzite is the tall man with silver hair?"

"Uh – yes. Your Majesty."

"He is the only one of you with any sense."

"Most likely, your Majesty."

"And the small one? The one who looks like a girl?"

Jadeite struggled very hard not to laugh.

"That is Lord Zoisite. He is the second in command, though he is the youngest of us - "

"How old are you?"

"I am twenty-one, your Majesty. Zoicite is eighteen."

Mars let out a violent gust of breath that was almost a snort.

"So young?" she asked, "I don't wonder at your rudeness, then."

Jadeite held his tongue, though he longed to ask her exactly how old _she _was to have become so wise.

"And the unruly one?"

"That is Lord Nephrite. He is third in command, and prince of the Northern Kingdom."

"Then Lord Zoicite is the heir to the Southern throne?"

"The West," he gently corrected, "The Southern lands are barren. None but desert tribes live there."

Mars smiled, but did not bother to explain why his comment amused her.

"I see. And what do you believe you will gain by attacking the Moon? You realize, I hope, that by attacking the Moon you will answer to the forces of Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury – in fact the entire Galaxy?"

Jadeite let out a hushed breath. This information was well timed.

"That is why our nation is attempting to make contact with the rest of the Galaxy," he explained, "In order to protect and warn -"

"So you would betray your King?"

Mar's inky eyes saw straight through him. He felt their cold penetrate his heart.

"I...but, surely..."

Mars flicked a tendril of jet-black hair over her shoulder. In the darkness, it looked like liquid night.

"In order to warn the Galaxy, you are betraying your King's plans of attack. You have reconciled this with your conscience?"

"I would not betray my King for any planet," he replied, his voice hard-edged and his eyes suddenly as cold as hers.

"How do you explain your actions?"

"I attempt to save the King from the dangers of an inter-galactic war!"

"By betraying his plans -"

"By helping him without bloodshed."

Mars' eyes flashed. She jumped off of her seat.

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Forgive me, your Majesty," Jadeite said, taking a breath to steady himself.

"I spoke in haste of matters I am not allowed to disclose."

Mars took a good look at the calm, cold mask he wore now and knew she would not get anything else out of him.

"Take me to the princess."

Jadeite opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. What was the use? He led her through the twisting path of the garden to the inner sanctuary.

As they approached the rose bushes that cradled the inner sanctum, they both paused to watch the scene before them.

The Moon Princess, glimmering white in the moonlight, stood close to the Prince, unaware that her arm rested next to his on the rose trellis, while he bent toward her to catch her words. It was a pretty picture.

"Princess."

Selenity turned with a gasp.

"Mars! What are you -"

"I've come to take you home."

"But – I still -"

"Now."

Selenity stuck her chin up in the air.

Mars coldly gazed at her.

"If she doesn't wish to go," Endymion began, a bit angry.

"It's urgent that she leave - and she knows why," Mars replied, stiff and cool.

Selenity's chin trembled, dropped; she bowed to Endymion and walked to Mars. Mars could hear Endymion's heated comments to Jadeite about the insubordination of retainers. But she could also tell that he was somewhat embarrassed at the two of them being caught, and at Selenity's humble behavior.

"Why do you have to be so rude?" the Moon princess hissed.

Mars didn't answer, but took hold of her charge's arm.

"At least let me tell Endymion goodbye."

"Endymion?" Mars repeated, incredulous.

"I mean Prince Endymion," Selenity quickly corrected. But the damage was done.

Mars' face grew stiffer, if it was possible.

She practically threw Selenity into the doorway.

* * *

"What is wrong with you!" Selenity yelled.

She recoiled from Mars' death grip on her arm. They were once more in the palace, and her shout echoed through the quiet halls, shattering the night. Venus' door creaked open.

"What is going on?" she asked. Her eyes were barely open, but when she spied Selenity and Mars stilled transformed, she woke up completely.

"What is it? Is it an attack? Has the Queen been kidnapped?" she gasped.

"No," Mars interjected.

She smoothed her hair back from her face and de-transformed.

"How could you do that?" Selenity demanded. "How could you embarrass me like that!"

"How can you be so frivolous?"

Jupiter shuffled down the hall toward them, her hair in glorious disarray, her eyes half-closed.

"What's going on? Who's being fabulous?"

Selenity and Venus both stared at Mars. Her tone was low and urgent; her face was no longer cold, and her words sobered Jupiter at once.

"Don't you understand? You're in danger. We're all in danger."

"What are you -"

"Oh, she means Endymion - Prince Endymion!" Selenity ejaculated, her voice ending with an angry sob.

"Wait, what -"

"I spoke with one of the Earth Prince's guardians tonight," Mars told them.

"What did you find out?"

Selenity stared at Mars and Venus, who had just asked the question.

"Why are you talking about them like they're _enemies_?"

She was crying heavily now, but didn't allow the tears or sobs to hamper her from angrily confronting both of them.

"Because they _are_ enemies, Selenity."

Mars didn't wait to hear what Selenity would say to her pronouncement.

"The guardian I spoke with tonight - Lord Jadeite - the one who speaks Martian? He told me that he and the other lords are trying to warn other planets about Earth's impending plans to attack."

Venus' face went a little grey.

"He _told _you that?" Jupiter gasped.

"So the plans are real?"

Venus' face tensed in worry.

"It would seem so."

"But that's what I was going to tell you," Selenity broke in, still half-sobbing, "Endymion told me that the King has plans to attack, but that he and the others are going to mess everything up by making us seem really scary so that no one will attack us. They're trying to _help_ us. Why can't you understand that!"

"Because they want us to be indebted to them. They _want _us to know that they're helping us."

"But why?" Jupiter asked.

"Because they want us to trust them."

Mars almost seemed desperate now.

Unobserved, Mercury padded over silently to join them. She was, of course, not the least bit sleepy.

"Why do you think that?" Venus asked.

"When I asked Lord Jadeite about his plans, he said he wanted to help the king without 'bloodshed.' But obviously that means he still want to take over. It could have been a mistake," she said, looking at Selenity.

"But I don't think it was. I think he meant what he said. They want a peaceful, bloodless conquest. They're smarter than the king."

Venus pondered this information.

"So you think that their plans to make the Moon intimidating - which you confirm, right Selenity?"

Selenity wouldn't respond to them. Jupiter was rubbing her back to get her to calm down.

"Well, let's say you're right," Venus went on, "So that their idea is simply to head off a battle they don't want to fight in favor of taking over here by doing...what, exactly?"

Mars clenched her fists.

"I don't know. I'm just telling you that I think they are planning something more."

Venus let out an exasperated sigh.

"What do you think, Mercury?"

Mercury tentatively smiled.

"I would say that, though Mars' conclusion is not unreasonable or illogical, it has very little evidence."

Mars frowned.

"But, what if she's right?" Venus pointed out.

"I am right."

"If you're right," Venus went on, talking to herself, "Then any delay on our part would be foolish. Not to mention the fact that we ought to cease all contact with them immediately."

"Yes, finally, some sense," Mars sighed.

"But," Venus continued, "If you're wrong, we'll have given up our only way of knowing what the Earth King is up to. And we'll have lost some potentially powerful allies."

"Lose-lose situation," Jupiter put in.

"We can trust them," Selenity sniffed.

Mercury gently coughed.

"The best solution," she offered, "Would be to continue to maintain a pleasant relationship with the Earth guardians so that, by closer inspection, we may deduce which hypothesis is correct."

"Come again?"

"She means that if we keep it cool we can figure out if they're phonies."

"How can we find that out, though?" Jupiter asked.

Mercury coughed again.

"You really don't have to do that to get our attention," Venus commented.

"Well," the blue-haired girl began, "Perhaps we might make an effort to engage them and interest them in our lives here. Then we might observe them closely without the disadvantage of being somewhere unfamiliar."

"We should _not_ get closer to them," Mars nearly growled.

"Hear her out," Venus interjected.

"If," Mercury continued, "If we offer them glimpses into Galactic life, we may, in turn, have the perfect opportunity to assess their motives. For instance, should we gratify their curiosity, we can monitor which things they are curious about and the types of questions they ask. Perhaps they may make more 'slips' as Mars calls them."

Venus sat down in the middle of the floor and put her hands to her head.

"What are you doing?" Mars asked, as if she did not want to know the answer.

"I'm thinking."

Jupiter sat down beside her with her back to the wall. Selenity had fallen asleep at this point, and was propped up on Jupiter's shoulder.

Venus snapped her head up.

"We'll do it."

"Do what?"

"Mercury's idea. But -" she held up a hand to keep Mars from bursting into a wrathful speech.

"But, we will not give them any crucial information. And we will make an alternate plan for keeping the Queen and the Princess safe. A plan that only we four know about."

Mars let out a forced breath.

"I'm telling you, I know -"

"Well, I don't know. And I want to know for sure," Venus retorted, "And this is the best plan we've got."

"Very well."

"When do we start?" Jupiter asked, shifting Selenity who had started to snore.

"I don't really like those Earth guys, and I don't want to worry about them being here, but if you think this is what we should do..."

"Trust me," Venus said.

"I'll do my best."

"Mercury," Venus turned to the smaller girl.

"Yes?"

"You are in charge of this master plan. Get me something good by tomorrow morning."

"Of course."

Mercury abruptly turned on her heel and headed for the library.

"Jupiter, take the princess to bed and plan to stay with her every night until we get all of this sorted out. I don't want anymore midnight meetings."

Jupiter sighed.

"I'll do my best."

She angled the princess onto her back and hoisted her up, carrying her off to bed.

Mars shook her head as she watched them go. She jumped when she felt Venus' hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be so hard on her," Venus murmured, "She's only a kid, like all of us. And she's in love."

"How do you know that?" Mars asked, surprised and displeased.

"I can just tell," Venus smiled, a little sadly. She looked older than a teenager, Mars reflected. She had noticed the same look in Mercury's face, and in her own when she glanced in her mirror.

"Come on," Venus said, gently pulling her back toward their bedchambers.

"Let's worry about it tomorrow."


	21. Chapter 21

The Golden Age

Chapter 21

* * *

Tomorrow came very early for Jupiter. She stretched the aches out of her back and arms, incurred by a lump called "Selenity." Trying not to wake the princess, she dressed by the dim light of dawn, grateful for once for the diaphanous gowns of the Moon Kingdom, more like elaborate shifts, which were easy to slip into. She made her barefoot way through the torturous hallways of the palace to the library, passing servants dressed in dusky robes ranging from lavender to dark grey. They didn't look surprised to see the stately Jovian princess awake at this hour of the morning, but their well-trained gazes rarely gave away anything.

Jupiter pulled the shift closer, her ample bosom stretching the thin yet sturdy fabric. She caught sight of her reflection in the hallway's floor to ceiling mirrors encased in crystal. It had been sometime since she'd looked at herself well - she'd been too busy recently to give any thoughts to appearance. She was rather startled by the sight before her.

Her hair hung in rippling curls around her not unpleasingly long face, her large eyes bright despite sleep. She noticed that her plumpness was slowly being replaced by muscle, her arms toned and defined. She looked powerful, almost intimidating.

Where was the princess who made chocolate cookies and whose rounded cheeks still betrayed her youth? Gazing at herself in the mirror, she saw a tall, imposing-looking young woman, high and well-defined cheekbones, generous mouth, and glittering green eyes. She'd grown too, she realized with a sinking feeling.

_I look like a warrior. It's not me._

The opening of the door to the library startled her. Mars beckoned silently, and she entered, her thoughts already fleeing in anticipation of the task ahead of her.

At the table in the farthest corner, Venus and Mercury already sat, heads together, whispering. Perhaps her own brief glimpse of herself opened her eyes to the changes in her friends for the first time. Venus, she noticed, no longer wore the ribbons in her hair that she'd once felt were so necessary to her happiness. Her frills and flounces, her scandalously daring tunics and dresses, were exchanged for sober shifts of moon-colored cloth and simple ties for her golden hair. Her face, like the others, was lengthening, thinning, the strong bones showing through now. Her hands, Jupiter noticed, were strong, the sinews on the back easily defined. There were callouses from sword practice. No more manicures or diamond encrusted paints.

Mars too had changed. Her features still mysterious, her almond-shaped eyes a disquieting violet, she looked like a real priestess now, and her figure, though small and slight, was as hard as Venus' and Jupiters'.

Mercury was, perhaps, the only one of them who hadn't noticeably changed, though Jupiter could detect slight alterations. Her limbs, always delicate, were, perhaps, sturdier-looking now. Her features also more pronounced, and something that animated them caused them to appear more and more human. It was difficult for Jupiter to remember that she was speaking with a being that was mostly man-made. Mercury had always_ appeared_ human, down to the pores of her skin, but there was something about the expression in her eyes...something different lately.

Venus looked up at their approach.

"How did you sleep?"

Jupiter gave a wry smile that made Venus chuckle quietly.

"Me neither. Though I didn't have to share my bed."

"It will be good practice for marriage," Jupiter joked.

Her smiled faded as she caught the look that passed between Mars and Venus. Best to say no more on that subject.

"So...what's the plan?"

Mercury cleared her throat and began:

"Since it seems that the Queen is against the idea of stopping the - ah - visits between Selenity and Prince Endymion -"

"She wants Selenity and the Prince to keep meeting?" Jupiter asked, puzzled.

Venus nodded. She had shared a small part of her earlier conversation with the Queen.

"But, why?"

"Well, she's - sympathetic to Selenity's - ah," Mercury blushed more deeply, "attraction to the Earth."

"I see."

"And she thinks communication will be a good thing," Venus put in, with a glance at Mars.

"She's too optimistic and trusting," Mars muttered, but not unkindly.

"She has a lot of hope," Venus finished, almost absently. Her eyes gazed unseeing at the fading stars in the red sky outside the window's library.

"We've decided, " Mercury continued, with a nod toward Venus and Mars, "That we're going to support the...friendship between Selenity and the Prince...and we will begin by accompanying Selenity when she pays a visit to the Earth, and, if they are interested, we will escort the princes to the Moon, and perhaps even to our respective planets, if they wish to go."

Mars looked grim at this, but Jupiter felt strangely calm. There was a plan of action at last, and even if she didn't exactly like it, she did like having a plan.

"What are we going to do with them there?" Mars wanted to know. She could hardly imagine dragging any of the five men around Mars or her home castle, let alone getting them into the temples of Ares. The arid desert heat of the fiery planet would probably roast the flesh off of their tender bones in seconds. Mars suddenly thought the plan was much better than it had seemed.

"We'll be polite to them. Share as much as we can with them," Venus delineated, "As long as we don't share anything important or compromising."

"And while we're doing this, we'll be spying on them?" Jupiter asked, her brow knitted.

"Not 'spying,' exactly; just getting to know them - trying to find out what they're really interested in."

"But, no one else from their kingdom can find out about these visits," Mercury warned, "Lord Jadeite made it clear to Mars that their king still doesn't trust the Moon."

"But isn't that their fault for making us seem scary?" Jupiter pointed out, a bit exasperated.

"It doesn't seem like the most logical plan," Mercury admitted, "But we don't know the exact circumstances. If the Earth King is unreasonable, this may be the only alternative to open war."

"There must be some other way. And besides," Jupiter added, "I don't like leaving Selenity out of this. I feel like I'm going behind her back."

The other girls had varying degrees of guilt or discomfort on their faces, but Venus replied," I know, but if these princes really aren't as nice as they seem -"

"Which she'll never believe -" Mars put in.

"Then it will be too late to save her. And, besides, the Queen said we had to let her go. We're only supposed to chaperone her now." Venus pointed out.

Jupiter sucked in a long breath and let out a large sigh.

"Well," she asked, brightly, "Who's going first?"

They all looked dubiously at one another.

Venus opened her lips: "I guess I'll -"

"I'll go," Mercury said, softly.

They looked at her in surprise. She gave a little smile.

"I'm actually looking forward to it," she admitted, "I've been wanting to gather information about Earth for quite some time now, and I will be able to find out a great deal with my new computer and visor. They won't even know, probably."

Venus privately though the visor might be a bit of a giveaway, but decided not to rain on Mercury's parade.

"That's settled. What about the plan?" Mars prompted.

They unconsciously leaned in.

"If there is an attack," Venus began," Or some kind of emergency, we need to be able to bring the Queen and Selenity to a safe place inside the palace."

"The throne room," Jupiter suggested.

"Too obvious, and there are too many entrances and exits," Mars pointed out.

"What about the conservatory?"

"Good," Venus nodded at Mercury.

"We'll take them there and bar the doors to the inner and outer halls. Jupiter, you and Mars will be our first line of defense. That way I can keep watch over the Queen and Selenity can heal when she transforms to Sailor Moon."

"They don't know that she's Sailor Moon, do they?" Jupiter asked.

"I doubt that Selenity has mentioned it to the Prince," Mercury answered, "But we should warn her not to.

"She probably won't listen to that either," Mars predicted.

"She will if she wants to see him again," Venus muttered.

"Do they...do they know who we are?"

Jupiter asked the question with a queasiness in her stomach.

Mars sighed. "Yes. The Earth general spoke to me as the Princess of Mars, even though I was in uniform. I don't know how they knew, exactly - "

"It doesn't matter," Venus cut in, "What matters it that no one else needs to know who we are, or that we are Senshi. We'll just have to trust that the Earth princes won't tell anyone else. Besides, it's not like it will do them a lot of good."

"I don't know," Mars murmured. She looked troubled, but kept her thoughts to herself.

They looked at each other uneasily. Venus broke the silence with a quick nod at Mercury.

"Selenity should be awake soon. I'll explain everything to her. Get ready. She'll probably want to visit him tonight."

Mercury nodded and smiled.

"Don't worry," she said, softly, "I'm sure it will be an adventure."

* * *

In the darkness of the room, Beryl lit a single candle. She felt the flutter of nervousness creeping in her stomach like scattering spiders, but she forced her hands to remain steady. The book she'd just finished reading for the fifth time sat open beside her on the cold stone floor.

It was so simple. So clear. All she had to do was try to make contact with...with...with Someone.

She took out her philosopher's tools: a smooth grey stone, two amber jewels, and a short, sharp knife. She placed the stone carefully before her, holding a jewel in each hand. These jewels magnified the little power she naturally possessed, trained painstakingly by the former court philosopher.

"I call upon," she whispered, her lips dry and her throat scratchy from fear. But determination was stronger, and she began again.

"I call upon the goddess, the lady of shadows, helper of those in dire need."

For a moment she thought she felt a cool wind brush past her cheek, but though she strained her ears for any sound, she heard nothing. She sat and murmured until her voice was hoarse and her back ached. The jewels in her hands cut into her flesh and her arms felt like stone, but she continued to reach beyond the Earth and herself.

Finally, one jewel slipped from her hand and cracked against the stone floor. Beryl slumped, exhausted.

"Nothing," she whispered, all the dread drained away in despair. Her last hope for some kind of aide that would prevent her from sealing the deaths of the Shitennou.

She looked a the dusty book, cracked with age. It lay on the floor like a long-dead, ancient creature. There was no other option now. What could she do now that this last hope had failed her?

She stretched out her hand to collect the book.

"Beryl."

The voice shook her, and the book tumbled from her grasp, its spine cracking against the stones, splitting pages and spewing dust.

Beryl found her hands were shaking. She couldn't stop them. There was a long silence. So long that she thought perhaps, prayed, that she had only imagined...and then:

A cool, dry voice in the darkness.

"Beryl."

A pure terror such as she had never experienced seized her with awful swiftness and shattered her to the core. Without another thought, she fled from the room. The voice came whispering after her.

* * *

Pluto, roused from a state of semi-slumber sensed that something was wrong. Somewhere, something had awakened. Something powerful, ancient,...and evil. She glanced at her orb atop the iron key. It glowed with a painful, dull light. She plunged her mind into the stream of the galaxy's collective consciousness and searched for the thing that had disturbed her. Her mind flashed past the glow of the trillions of white lights that were the souls of the living, galloped past the brighter lights of greater beings, and soared to the gates of the invisible Olympus where the ancient beings waited. There she felt a tug. Her mind flew again in the direction of spirit wind, seeking an answer.

She felt that every second was precious.

* * *

End of Book One.


	22. Chapter 22

The Silver Age

Book Two

(Chapter 22)

**Author Note: **This is the beginning of the second half of The Silver Age (formerly "The Golden Age"). I've come back to this story after a long absence, so the tone of the story has shifted a bit, as well as some of the original intentions for the plot. Because of that, I've split the story into two parts (Book One and Book Two, obviously). I hope you'll like the newish direction. Thanks for reading! - F.F.

* * *

"They're here."

Zoisite looked up briefly from the instrument he was repairing in the older part of the West tower that was his workroom. Jadeite stood in the door way, trim to a niceity, as always. His misleadingly innocent blue gaze rested in some secret amusement upon the strawberry blond's messy curls. It was clear that Zoisite had once more entered into his bi-monthly state of tunnel vision. His uniform was undone, one glove missing.

"And?" quipped the slender man.

The subtext was clear: W_hy should I care?_

"Well, it is your turn," Jadeite pointed out, quietly. The faintly amused smile still played on this lips.

Zoisite didn't bother to look up.

"Get someone else to do it."

Jadeite sighed and examined his gloves.

"Are you sure? I've got pressing duties and Kunzite is...well, Kunzite. I'm afraid it will have to be Nephrite..." he trailed off.

"Good," Zoisite snapped, his attention caught by a particularly tricky procedure of wiring.

"He'll enjoy the company, I'm sure."

The sarcasm was not at all lost on Jadeite. His smile grew, and Zoisite, had he seen this, would have become nervous.

"You're right there. The ladies are quite unusually beautiful."

"Don't you think?" he added, when no reply came.

A metal piece thunked onto the table and Zoisite muffled a curse.

"What?" he asked, distractedly, "Yes, I suppose."

He lifted a large pair of pinchers from underneath the table and balanced them carefully on the workbench beside him. Then he began to chew one gloved finger and ruffled his hair with the ungloved hand.

Jadeite coughed.

"Now, look," Zoisite began, fixing his companion with an intent green stare, "I have a lot of work to do and I don't have time to babysit some princesses, no matter how attractive they may be. Endymion's a grown man. He can handle the Moon princess alone, and I'm sure he'd prefer we all shared that sentiment."

"No doubt," Jadeite agreed, glancing through the piles of crumpled notes on the low table beside the door.

"So, you want me to tell Neph he's got a free pass?"

"With my blessing," Zoisite muttered, trying to attach a piece to the machine hanging above him.

"Alright, then." Jadeite stood up.

"I'll tell him to give his regards to the Mercurian."

Zoisite froze and stared at the machine in front of him. His normally angelic face pursed in sudden annoyance, then he let out a short, bitter laugh.

_Jaedite, you ass_, he thought.

With a sharp slap, he slammed the lid to the hanging part and spun on his heel to sprint to his room.

From the opposite end of the hall, Jadeite chuckled to himself all the way down the stairs.

He found Nephrite in the courtyard, studying a recent missal sent from a neighboring kingdom. The taller man looked up at his approach.

"What are you so cheerful about?"

Jadeite smiled to himself.

"Oh, nothing. Just matchmaking."

Nephrite looked at him with a grave mixture of distrust and disgust.

"Well, don't try anything on me."

"Don't worry," the other replied, "Finding a woman who'd have you is a task beyond even the gods, most likely."

Nephrite grunted in laughter at this.

"Nothing wrong with being a bachelor," he observed. One of the court women passed by them about twenty feet away, and gave Nephrite an obviously appraising glance. He smiled at her.

"Indeed."

Nephrite caught the frown behind his friend's light words.

"Don't tell me you've got a fancy to settle down," he scoffed.

"Oh, no. I'm even worse than you are."

"Well, you're certainly worse at courting pretty women."

Jadeite looked at him in some surprise.

"The Martian, I presume," he said, with only mild asperity.

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about her," Nephrite grinned, "Not the ambassador's daughter, anyway."

The tiniest bit of red stole along Jadeite's high cheekbones, but it was doubtful whether Nephrite saw it.

"Who then?" Jadeite's voice was carefully void of emotion.

Nephrite gave him a quick glance, and then looked down at his letters.

"That Martian princess was in the garden the other night, wasn't she? The night Endymion went to meet the Moon witchling."

"I doubt that's a proper form of address for the heir to the Silver Millennium."

Nephrite shrugged.

"Witch or not, she's certainly bewitched him. Oh, stop looking at me like that. I mean it innocently enough. She's a taking little thing."

"Careful," Jadeite murmured.

"She is. Fragile. Like a butterfly. Looks like she'd fade away in a strong light, but some men like that kind of thing."

"She's very tender-hearted," Jadeite said, softly.

Nephrite looked up, quickly.

"I fear it will be her undoing."

"Now, what can you mean by that, I wonder?" Jadeite asked, lightly.

Nephrite frowned and found himself looking up into the sky.

"I don't know," he said, haltingly.

"Perhaps I just fear that Endymion may break her heart."

Jadeite didn't smile.

"Or she will break his, you think?"

Nephrite remained silent, still looking at the sky, as if searching for something.

"Well," Jadeite added, "At least she'll have an eternity to get over it."

Nephrite watched him go, his light hair glinting in the fading sun's last rays and his shoulders rigidly straight. He frowned and looked back at the sky. The stars were just beginning to peek out, and above them the moon was gathering her light, like a silver crescent ornament, balancing precariously from a string too thin to see.

* * *

Zoisite studied the girl beside him carefully, taking care to do so unobserved.

She was petite, slender bird-bones and a gentle curving figure. Her profile was delicate, molded along the lines of a nymph, with a cherub's large, rather doleful eyes. They were currently staring intently at the smooth yet boxy metallic device in her hand.

He found himself captivated. Not by her beauty, though she was very beautiful, graceful in all her movements, with a soft voice and a way of fluttering after answering a question that was as amusing as it was tempting.

No, it was something more. Something he'd noticed the first time he'd seen her. There was certainly something different about her.

...When she'd first arrived, the princess of Mercury, tagging shyly along behind the bubbling Moon princess, he'd remembered the night she appeared in the kitchen, when he'd only had a brief look at her - a few words - a general, rushed impression. Large eyes, small face, soft voice, blue hair.

The moon princess's visit he had expected, but he thought one of the other guardians would accompany her first. The dark eyed one, perhaps, the Martian princess that Jadeite had told them about. But not this quiet little mouse.

And yet, she wasn't a quiet little mouse, after all. The princess from Mercury had ignited a degree of curiosity in him that he ever knew he had. He had wanted to meet her at first simply to speak with her about several of his newest devices, and he'd hoped that she would run true to Mercurian form in her interests.

"This is my friend and guardian, Lord Zoisite." Endymion had introduced him to the princesses.

He'd swept them his most polished bow, a thing of beauty that put even Endymion to shame, which didn't exactly please the prince.

Selenity had openly ogled him and offered her hand before she knew what she was doing.

"Your highness," he'd purred, accepting her hand as though it was a rare bird.

She gave a little sigh and Endymion's face grew darker.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Zoisite." The princess giggled at the end of this, and Zoisite decided it would be wise if he turned his attention to the real object of his interest. He pivoted toward Mercury and bowed again, then paused, expectantly. Mercury merely stared at him.

Zoisite deepened his bow and suggestively put his hand forward.

Mercury, not attending when Selenity had performed this ritual, stared at his hand for some moments, and then at last took his hand and shook it as if she were shaking a snake. This led Selenity to look at Mercury with alarm, and Endymion to snort with ill-concealed laughter at Zoisite.

"Oh, so sorry," Mercury had attempted to recover, finally realizing that she'd made a fax-pas, "I-I haven't yet become acquainted with the finer points of antiquated social ritual -"

Selenity jumped in to the rescue: "Mercury's customs are really different from here!"

Endymion was still trying not to laugh, but fortunately Zoisite wasn't in the least bit embarrassed.

He'd put on his best manners, of course. And when he wanted to be, Zoisite could be incomparably charming.

"May I say what an honor it is to be allowed to escort you tonight," he'd said, gently offering an arm to Mercury and giving her what he knew was a beguiling smile. Right away he could tell that too much charm would not work for this princess; she blushed painfully.

"Th-thank you."

_She colors very admirably,_ He'd thought, but wondered if there was anything more to her. Not that what was in front of him was anything to be ashamed of.

_At least__, _he'd reflected, _She won't expect me to flirt with her or flatter her too much. But I hope she's not thoroughly dull._

"There are many gardens here," he'd quickly observed, to set her at ease,"Would you care to see them?"

She'd nodded.

"D-do you care for gardening?" she'd asked, making a brave attempt.

"Nothing is more delightful than the bounty of the earth," he'd replied, and inwardly gagged.

"Ah." was all the reply he could get from her.

"I wonder if you might tell me a bit about Mercurian culture," he'd pursued, trying to steer the conversation to a topic that interested himself, with very little concern, if any, for her feelings, all the while making it seem like he was thoroughly invested in her interests.

"What would you like to know?" she'd asked.

"Oh, tell me anything. I'm dreadfully ignorant," he lied.

"Well," Mercury began. She stopped almost immediately and he wondered if he'd done something to upset her. She turned to him, her eyes large and confiding, and said:

"I'll just be honest with you, Lord Zoisite. I'm not very good at small talk, I'm afraid. At least, I've tried to learn. Princesses Venus and Mars have been trying to teach me. But, I hope you won't mind if I dispense with it?"

Zoisite was so genuinely startled that he couldn't think of a reply. She took this for approval and offered a timid smile.

"I can see that you won't be offended by my frankness. I could, of course, tell you about our history, government, political systems, seven different dialects of the common language, the fifteen periods of literature in the West, thirty-five in the East, the oxygen levels of the subarctic regions -"

"Oh, yes -" He'd stammered.

"But, I'm afraid that I would be speaking what Venus calls 'technical mumbo-jumbo' and most people, I'm led to believe, don't really enjoy that."

Zoisite had then resorted to some very fast thinking. The little pixie-like princess was not at all what he'd expected, and almost completely unlike anyone he'd ever met. He was so much startled that he decided to resort to something he'd rarely ever done before: He decided to drop pretense.

"Since we're being honest, my lady, I would prefer to hear your opinions on the current state of technological advances of your home planet."

He'd noticed her hesitation.

"In technical mumbo-jumbo, preferably," He'd added.

Mercury's eyes had grown a bit larger.

"Really?" she'd asked, half-anxious and half-anticipatory.

He'd found himself smiling, genuinely charmed and amused.

"Absolutely."...

Two hours later they had discussed a centuries' worth of inventions and he'd taken her on a brief trip back to his laboratory to retrieve his latest notes, which she'd poured over in a matter of seconds.

Now he stood looking down at her dark head, and he forgot for a moment about the notes or the device, or anything else.

She turned to look at him, but he managed to look away before she caught him.

"It's very interesting," she said, her voice like a wind chime. She smiled shyly at him and carefully handed the control box back to him.

"And, when you've finished with the remote for the teleporter, will you add the same properties of energy conservation and self-sustaining generators to the music device?"

He found himself smiling again and tried very hard to squash that tendency. He didn't succeed.

"I might," he said, turning away from her to look at the couple behind them.

"I'm not sure what use I would have for it, but it certainly might do something."

She was fixing him with that gaze again. Her dark, serious eyes settled on his face. She seemed about to say something when a shriek of laughter drew them both to the two figures down the hill.

Zoisite looked on quietly. He knew the prince was falling in love with the Moon princess. Their attachment was mutual; that was clear even to the dullest of intelligences.

There was a smile on the prince's face that he had rarely seen. Now it appeared more frequently. But who else noticed the change, he wondered.

"The princess," he began," She's very...light-hearted."

"Yes," Mercury replied. He noticed that she didn't shiver as a cold wind momentarily blew against them.

"You..." he began, "You aren't like other people," he continued. The brief thought that he was making a fool of himself rushed through his mind, but he was too engrossed in looking at her to pay attention.

"I -" she began, then, unaccountably, she blushed. "Yes," she finished. But she looked as if she didn't want to say anything else and there was a look almost of fear in her eyes. It puzzled him, and he felt a slight stirring of concern.

_Can something like this happen so fast? _He wondered.

Frankly, it unnerved him.

* * *

Mercury found herself blushing again. It was quite unaccountable how her processor had learned to blush when appropriate, or inappropriate. Perhaps she could fix it later? Surely, when he'd said that she was different from other people...did he mean?.. Had he noticed?...Surely not.

But he was looking at her again with that peculiar expression and she was again feeling flushed, as though she had over-heated.

_Ridiculous!_ She thought. But it concerned her. What did one do with this-this-...anomaly? And what was it, exactly?

She was honestly intrigued by the teleportation device and even more intrigued by the remote control device that Lord Zoisite had crafted for it so that he and the others could use it more safely. It allowed them to program it to work only when the remote was activated, so that no one else could use it, and to refine the parameters of the portal it created.

Of course, this was something she would have expected from a team of Mercurian scientists, but not from a single scientist, let a lone an Earthling. She, unlike most, had no partiality concerning race, but she knew that Earth was far behind most other planets in terms of the advance of technology. Though the presence of the teleporter suggested that this had not always been the case, it was ancient and could hardly have had a hope of ever working until Zoisite began repairing it.

It was simply astounding. She yearned to measure his intelligence with several of the many tests she had recently read about, but then she reigned herself in.

Imagine, doing experiments on a human being! Especially him. She felt herself blushing again.

His grass-green eyes were watching her. They were so quick and yet had such a far-away, dreamy look about them. She wondered why she had never bothered to notice such things in other human beings. Another inexplicable anomaly.

"Would you like to go inside?" he asked. His voice was pleasant, with a beautiful bell-like quality. He had easy manners and carried himself gracefully, but she imagined, from her brief examination of his physiology, that he was much stronger and quicker than he appeared. He was also extremely attractive, for a human being.

Belatedly remembering that she should be cold as the wind whipped her skirts, she feigned a shiver and nodded.

The prince and princess were already going into the small enclosure they had chosen from among the garden's many greenhouses, kept warm all the year long. These were the most remote, and therefore, the best for a hidden tryst.

Mercury let her consciousness wonder for a moment in speculation of what it would be like to be a real person, like the princess, and to have a handsome prince by her side. It was a scenario she had been very curious about of late, since Venus had explained to her that the prince and princess were in love. There were many things about being "in love" that she hadn't fully understood from Venus' brief explanation. She especially thought it odd that everyone seemed to be aware of that the prince and princess were in love, except for them.

She saw Selenity point, delightedly, to a red rose on an over-hanging stem, and Endymion promptly snipped off the bud and handed it her. The pale princess blushed and smiled.

Mercury, without knowing it, sighed.

Zoisite looked at her, keenly.

"You know," he said, in his oddly forthright way, "You ought to come here again."

Mercury looked at him, startled.

"I mean," he continued, "You should come here to visit. Without the princess."

"Oh," she replied in a small voice.

"What I mean is that I'd like it if you'd come back to visit. To talk to me."

"I'd like that," she found herself saying, suddenly. And she realized she meant it. She looked up at him, with a mixture of wonder and confusion.

He was smiling at her, and she felt something odd happening to her heart.

"Good."

The princess was walking back toward her. Whatever else Zoisite might have said to her, he stopped at the approach of these two and bowed to the princess.

"I'll see them back to the teleport, Zoisite," Endymion said. Zoisite bowed again, but he caught Mercury's eye before she could turn to go with the prince and princess.

"Until next time, Lady Mercury."

She gave him a brief smile. Again, her heart was behaving oddly.

* * *

"Mercury," Selenity whispered, as they stepped out of the gateway together and entered the halls of the Moon Kingdom.

"I think - I think I'm in love."

The ivory princess turned her gaze toward Mercury, and the other girl stared back, unsure what she ought to do or say. The princess looked excited, but behind the excitement was a lurking fear.

_Oh, dear,_ Mercury thought.


	23. Chapter 23

The Silver Age

Chapter 23

* * *

Author Note: Sorry the updates have taken so long! But I WILL finish this story.

* * *

"A ball?"

Venus looked at Mercury blankly.

The dark-haired princess nodded, unaware that her suggestion was the least bit odd or out of character.

"You believe that throwing a ball will give us the opportunity we need to gain information on the Earthlings?" Venus asked.

Mercury nodded again.

Sitting across from both of them in the only comfortable library chair, Selenity's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands.

"I love it!"

"Of course you do," Mars interjected, "But it doesn't make any sense. And frankly, that surprises me."

She gave Mercury a significant look.

"It doesn't _seem_ to make sense, I suppose," Mercury conceded, "But I've thought out all the different possibilities of successfully creating a situation in which we can persuade the Earthlings to come to the Moon and talk to us without needing to hide what we're doing from the general public notice."

Endymion's visits to the Moon, though secretly approved by the Queen, could not become publicly known if they hoped to avoid an inter-galactic scandal, or worse. There was still technically a communication ban between the Moon and Earth, and that didn't include the ongoing war with Mars. True, there hadn't been fighting for the last two years, but there was no official peace either.

"Oh, I see," Jupiter put in, twirling a tendril of hair, "So we'll have a ball and invite them, and we'll use the number of people and the atmosphere as a cover for our meeting with five Earthlings. That's a great idea."

"But how will no one recognize them?" Mars wanted to know.

"Unlike us," Mercury pointed out, "The Earth really doesn't promote its leaders as celebrities; It doesn't have the financial where-with-all, in the first place, or the technology."

"Yes, but what I mean is, won't the other dignitaries and personalities we invite become suspicious when they realize there are five strangers? Ordinary people don't get invited to Moon parties."

Jupiter reflected that this was true.

"That's why I thought it would be best to have a costumed ball," Mercury explained, "It's a very ancient custom once practiced on Venus. The royal family would hold costumed balls throughout the capital for about three days and nights. It was to celebrate the goddess' feast day."

Venus nodded.

"I've seen old paintings of those," she replied, "But won't it seem a bit odd to hold one out of the blue? And on the moon?"

"We do need an occasion," Mercury admitted, "That's the technicality I haven't yet worked out."

"What if we hold one as a celebration of the day we all were revealed as chosen?" Selenity suggested.

There was a brief silence as each girl reflected back on that day, almost a year ago. So much had happened, it seemed, since they'd each come to the palace. They had learned so much about their powers, their identities, and their deepest desires and fears. And there was so much still to learn.

"That's not a bad idea," Mars finally admitted.

"Thank you," Selenity answered, giving her a wry smile.

"I do have good ideas now and then, you know."

"I know."

"There's another advantage you haven't thought about," Mercury brought up.

"What's that?"

"Holding a masked ball, with a historical theme, may give the Earthlings a chance to wear what would to them be normal clothing."

"Oh, I see," Jupiter put in, "Are they really that far behind us?"

"Didn't you see that they were still carrying _swords_?" Mars asked, sardonically.

"I carry a sword," Venus remarked.

"Yes, but it's ceremonial."

"It's also plenty sharp!"

"Alright, alright," Selenity butted in, "We have a very good idea and there's no need to get into an argument about it."

"Well," Venus began, rising from her chair and smoothing her tunic and skirts, "If we're going to have a ball, we'd best get to work."

"What do you mean?" Selenity asked, suspicious.

"I mean," Venus grinned, leaning over her, "That _you_ will have to ask your mother for permission to plan the ball. And you'll need to prepare the guest list, order the food, decorations, floral arrangements, musicians, fireworks, costumes, invitations -"

"Stop!" Selenity wailed.

Her cries fell upon deaf ears.

* * *

"They're inviting us to a ball?" Nephrite repeated, staring blankly at Endymion.

Endymion could feel a slight blush around his collar.

"Yes. It would appear so."

"Why?" Zoisite asked, his usually ruffled appearance not quite as unkempt that day.

"They seem to think it will be an ideal way for us to make connections with the dignitaries we've been hoping to talk to without risking our lives or the secrecy of our mission."

Kunzite was quiet, which wasn't unusual. The hard look in his eyes was, however.

"There would have to be complete understanding that the security of the palace is the first consideration."

Endymion could tell that he didn't like the idea of the crown prince being in a crowded place outside of Kunzite's personal jurisdiction.

"I think that would go without saying," he mentioned.

Kunzite still appeared unconvinced, but it was difficult to read him when his face was a hard mask.

Endymion was still privately reeling over the disclosure the Moon princess had made to him only a few week ago: that Kunzite himself might be half Lunarian. It seemed impossible to believe and not something one would ask about casually.

"I think we should go," Jadeite said.

They turned to look at him as one.

"You don't think it's a bit suspicious that they're welcoming us so freely into their palace? Nothing could make a more convenient trap," Zoisite pointed out.

Endymion's face grew dark, but Jadeite spoke first:

"Undoubtedly, but if we suspect, however unlikely, that this may be a trap, there are always precautions we can take to ensure we won't be caught."

"Such as?"

"If pressed, we can point to the complicity of the princesses, and we can reveal their identities publicly. I've gathered, from my discussion with them, that though the royals heads of state are aware that the planetary princesses are also the galaxy guardians, the rest of the galaxy is not and that's how they'd like to keep it."

Kunzite raised a brow at Jadeite, who mouthed "Jupiter" to him as the identity of the senshi who'd provided this little tid bit.

Privately, Jadeite believed that there was no trap at all. The openness of the princesses and the welcome of their queen was not feigned, as far as he could tell. Still, it was always better to be wary.

"Well, I guess there's only one question left, then," Zoicite pointed out.

"What are we wearing?"

* * *

"What am I wearing?!" Mars demanded when she finally saw herself in the mirror of Selenity's rarely used bed chamber. The bed chamber looked as though it had been attacked by a well dressed tornado recently as finery lay scattered about in every direction.

"Now, stop that," Selenity said, sharply slapping Mars' hand away from touching the delicate flowers arranged carefully in her hair.

"You were the only one who didn't give the designers any ideas to work with," the princess remarked, trying to speak around the pins in her mouth, as she adjusted the headpiece, "They had to do all the research into Martian historical clothing themselves and they weren't happy about it."

Mars snorted.

"Deliver me from the hands of crazy fashion designers!" she muttered to the sky.

"I hear ya," came a voice from the doorway. Mars couldn't turn her head but she caught a glimpse of something glittering out of the corner of her eye.

"Aw, Jupiter, you look beautiful!" Mars heard the princess sigh.

"I think I look pretty ridiculous."

Mars noticed the blush on the Jovian's cheeks and privately thought that Jupiter was probably as thrilled to play dress up as Selenity was.

She turned, rebelliously ignoring the few hair pins that plopped out of her hair as she did so.

Jupiter was standing near the door of the chamber wearing a green chiffon over gown with fluttering layers on the chest, starting at the collar and dipping down to her cleavage, which now a bit more on display than normal. The gown was so see-through that she might as well have been wearing nothing, and only the ruffling layers of the collar covered her chest decently. There was a rose where the neck of the gown stopped and an elaborate sash tied just under the bust. Jupiter's long arms were exposed and she wore a snake-like band of gold around one bicep. Her long hair was down her back, with several roses wound through it and a tiara on her head. In her hand was a garnet and ruby mask with a peacock feather attached to one side. The long skirt of the dress was transparent and Jupiter's legs and torso were only disguised by a shimmering russet skirt underneath the gossamer fabric that trailed the ground. The green over skirt was slit and wafted around her like pale green wisps, revealing the deep red dress underneath.

"That's what Jovians wore one thousand years ago?" Mars asked, the skepticism rife in her voice.

Jupiter shrugged, ruining the remarkable image she had presented moments earlier.

"It's so...so..." Mars began.

"Beautiful?" Selenity breathed.

"Feminine?" Mercury ventured.

"Sexy!" Venus finished.

Jupiter blushed and looked down at her decolletage again.

Mars rolled her eyes. At least her gown wasn't that revealing. Ostentatious was probably the word for it. It was a pale lavender and scarlet with ocher detailing, with a waist that was lower than Jupiter's but not quite at her natural waist. A sash was wound around her, emphasizing her tiny waist, and the bodice above was full with a square collar that covered very decently indeed. The sleeves were little cups at the top of the gown, and the entire thing was covered by a sheer over dress sewn with tiny amethysts and rubies so that she sparkled as she moved. She had a violet satin mask that covered her eyes and rose sharply back toward her elaborately piled hair, twisted up on her head and held with lavender ribbons and flowers.

She reflected that she looked otherworldly and wondered, perhaps, if she might be able to intimidate a few of the Earthlings before the night was over.

"What's that smile for?" Venus asked her, suspicious.

"Nothing."

Venus eyed her askance, but went back to smoothing her hair. Her own gown was a deep blue satin that hugged her form, and though it covered her more than adequately, actually revealed her at the same time. The gown had straps lined with ermine and a relatively simple collar that dipped down delicately, but not very low. The skirt split just below her breasts, revealing a shimmering gold under dress. The straps did not sit on her shoulders but hung down at the sides, leaving a lot of her bare above the neckline. She wore a delicate gold chain around her neck with small rubies. Her mask was gold and amber and curved back toward her forehead. Like Mars, she wore her hair up, but in braids wound round her head.

Glancing at herself, she thought she looked a lot older and wasn't sure if she liked the change.

"Do you mind if I borrow this?"

Venus smiled at Mercury and handed her the brush.

Mercury took it and began to brush her waving short hair methodically. Her gown was perhaps the oddest of all. Because Mercury was a cold planet, she'd had to request some modifications to be comfortable in the Moon's ballroom. Of course, she could have adjusted her body temperature, but it would have looked odd for a woman to be dressed so warmly without perspiring. She had gotten rid of much of the fur linings of the original design, but the rest of the gown stayed as true to the thousand-year-old Mercurian prototype as possible. Her mother had given her the details from old records, and Mercury felt that she had done a credible job on reconstructing a historically accurate dress.

It was light blue and aqua marine, with a fitted bodice trimmed in small diamonds that glittered like snow. The collar had a white and silver ruff that stood up behind her head and sloped toward the front, made of thin fabric stretched over several tiny metal rods, in a webbed manner. At the top of each rod hung a diamond drop, so that the collar looked as though it were melting ice. The rest of the gown was simple in comparison, a silver belt of thin links, a modestly full skirt of dark blue and aqua blue panels, made of something finer than the bodice so that they wafted across each other, causing the dress to seem to change colors as she moved. Her hair was pulled back from her face with a small silver ribbon tied at the base of her head, and she wore her silver circlet with its sparkling white diamond prongs, like delicate ice sickles. Her mask was black velvet, revealing shockingly blue eyes underneath. Her sleeves were little puffs of blue that covered only her shoulders and the very top of her arm.

She finished arranging her hair and noticed that everyone was looking at Selenity, who was still dressed in her usual plain white gown.

"What?" she asked, when she caught them all looking.

"It's nearly time to go down," Mars mentioned, "Have you even taken a shower yet?"

"Uh..."

As one they screamed:

"Selenity!"

* * *

It had been two weeks since Beryl last heard the voice. She was starting to come back to her normal self, though her hands still shook and she couldn't keep much food down.

The king had determined that she was ill from overwork and ordered that she rest for a week before resuming her duties as court philosopher, but some quiet alone time was the last thing Beryl wanted.

Because she knew she wouldn't be alone.

In her tower room, she kept two maid servants, the two she knew were the most talkative, to wait on her. This had surprised some in the palace who knew that Beryl didn't seem to like Charis and Topaz, but they thought perhaps it was just a whim.

Beryl listened to them chatter and let the sounds of their inane conversations keep the darker voice at bay.

On the morning of the seventh day, she finally felt some measure of calm. Now, two weeks later, she was becoming confident that the voice was gone.

Such terrible things it had whispered to her, and, yet (her stomach curled), they were so sweet too. Visions of what it would be like to be with Endymion. His hands running through her hair. His lips on hers. His eyes looking at her with melting love...

And then, the visions of the moon princess. Her delicate neck snapped in two like a twig.

Beryl shook herself and took deep and careful breaths.

"Are you alright, my lady?" Charis asked, suddenly.

Beryl smiled.

"Yes, thank you, Charis. Some water, I think."

Charis put down her knitting and went to fetch a glass.

Topaz looked over at her mistress. There was definitely something wrong with Beryl lately. She was pale, nervous. She looked behind her and odd times, and Topaz had even caught her talking to herself.

"My lady, is - is something troubling you?" she asked.

Beryl's face assumed a haughty look.

"Nothing, thank you."

_Insolent fool_, whispered the voice.

Beryl dropped the book she'd been reading.

"My lady?" Topaz asked, startled.

"It's nothing," Beryl snapped, rising to retrieve the book from the floor.

"Yes, my lady."

"Your ladyship," Charis said, as she entered the room, "Here's the water."

Beryl took the glass and brought it to her lips.

_You could be so powerful,_ the voice whispered in her ear.

She slopped water over her hand and forced herself to remain calm, though the rising panic was making her physically ill.

_You could have everything, if you'll just let me help you._

_"No!" _Beryl thought, harshly.

"My lady -"

"Leave!" Berly nearly screamed at them. They stared at her, their faces white, and then each bobbed a curtsy and left. Beryl knew they would report her odd behavior to the king.

_You could easily put a stop to that. _An image of Topaz and Charis falling from the tower steps to their deaths flashed into her mind.

_"N-no!"_

_You could, _the voice insisted, sweetly toned, _It is easily done. I can show you. I can teach you so much. Let me help you, Beryl._

"You're evil!" Beryl whispered, going to the window to drink in the fresh air.

"What you show me is evil. I don't want to hurt people."

_But you do_, the voice chuckled, _You want to hurt others as they've hurt you._

Suddenly an old memory of her father striking her came back with such force that she put her hand up to her cheek to feel the sting.

_You did not deserve to be treated like that, _the voice said.

"No," Beryl agreed, surprised to find tears on her face.

_He hurt you, and others have hurt you. Unjustly._

Memories of court intrigue, of insults from those higher up, of her mentor who in the end had turned out to be interested in more than her gifts for philosophy.

She wiped a hand across her mouth, feeling sick and broken. Tears ran down freely now.

"Maybe I did deserve it," she heard her shaky voice saying, "What am I, after all? A farmer's daughter..."

_You did not deserve it, Beryl. You are a princess, a queen. There is much in you._

Beryl let out a sob.

_We are sisters in suffering, _the voice intoned, sadly, _I too have known what it is like to be hurt by those closest. To be shut out from the light. Always apart._

"What are you?" Beryl gasped.

A shadowy form stood in front of her suddenly, a woman made out of darkness, with eyes that gleamed like odd gray lamps.

_I am a goddess in my own right. I have strength, knowledge, power. But I'm trapped, like you. _

_Together,_ it went on, holding out one shadow hand, _We can ensure that everything is made right._

"What of those visions?" Beryl asked, regarding the hand offered with doubt. "Those terrible ideas. It's wrong to kill others."

The figure seemed to waver, but didn't lower its hand.

_Perhaps too much time alone has made me vengeful, _it reflected, _I have a great deal of anger within me. You are not bloodthirsty, and that is good. It shows that you have a gentle but powerful spirit. My powers are mostly destructive, but I can aid you without bloodshed. You can teach me light, for I see you have it within you...You love the prince of Earth._

Beryl's face flushed.

_He could come to love you as well. But he is enthralled to the moon's daughter._

Beryl's head jerked up.

"So it's true?" she asked, eagerly "It is an enchantment? Black magic? Is that what she did to him?"

_Hm..the strongest of enchantments, _the figure agreed, _But you could rescue him. You could break her spell... But it will not be easy._

"I would do anything for him," Beryl stated, simply.

_Then, _the figure sighed, _You will have to kill the moon princess._


End file.
